Scent of a Woman
by Mediancat
Summary: AU Season 3, breaking off during Lover's Walk, incomplete. What if it hadn't been Oz and Cordelia who found Willow and Xander in the warehouse? What if it had been Buffy and Angel?


Cordelia and Oz sat in his van and raced for Breaker's Woods to find Giles. Oz, mostly silent, tried to ignore Cordelia's rather understandable hysteria. Given the circumstances, he did nothing to try to stanch the flow. It wasn't every day Spike kidnapped her boyfriend . . . more like every other day, actually.

She shrieked, "What if they were kidnapped by Colombian drug lords? They could be cutting off Xander's ear right now! Or . . . other parts!" The look on her face told what parts she was thinking of. The same fear gripped Oz, truth be told. He just couldn't . . .

Hold it. What was that smell? He sniffed the air and then brought the van to a halt. Then he sniffed it again, a bit confusedly.

Next to him, Cordelia said, "Hello?" Oz then drove a few feet forward and tried again. Tapping him on the shoulder, Cordelia said. "What are you doing? We need to get Giles."

Heart sinking, Oz turned to the cheerleader and said. "I'm sorry. I thought I smelled Willow nearby . . . guess I was wrong."

Cordelia answered, as Oz restarted the van, "What? You can smell her? Like, how?"

"I don't know . . . never happened before. And I was obviously wrong, anyway. Come on. We have a Giles to find."

Putting the van in drive, Oz headed once again towards Breaker's Woods.

Spike had been lying to them all along - -something he was pretty good at, actually. Willow and Xander were indeed being held captive in the factory. The vampire walked off in one direction -- presumably to get his car, head out of town and beat some sense out of Drusilla. Good riddance to bad, bad, annoying vampire rubbish.

Though, Buffy thought ruefully as she and Angel trudged towards the factory, it would have been nice if he'd thought to offer them a ride . . .

Neither of them said anything on the way. Any conversation would have only offered them the temptation of discussing Spike's theories, and Buffy was so not into that right now.

Especially when she thought they might be true.

Buffy led the way inside and proceeded slowly down the charred stairway. Angel followed her, even more carefully; the building was badly burned and the steps showed considerable signs of damage. Now was not the time to go plummeting down ten or fifteen feet onto piles of concrete.

She got to the door of where they'd been held . . . and couldn't believe what she saw.

Willow and Xander . . . on the bed . . . in the throes of lovemaking. Buffy was so shocked she couldn't say anything.

Fortunately, she didn't need to, as Willow saw her out of the corner of her eye and pulled away with a loud eep, rolling to the floor. Xander let out a similar yelp, but there was nowhere he could go.

As Willow poked her head out from behind the bed, almost shyly, Angel walked into the room and froze in place.

Buffy said blankly, "We're here to rescue you."

Cordelia's complaints cut off the nearer the van got to Breaker's Woods. Finally, she turned to Oz and said, quietly, "Do you love Willow?"

Huh? After a second, Oz said unhesitatingly, "Yes."

"I thought so."

Oz made the final turn; five minutes later and they would be in the middle of Giles' campground. Cordelia didn't say anything more, so Oz asked, "Why did you want to know?"

"Have -- have you told her?" This was a Cordelia he'd never seen before. Gone was all of her arrogance, her conviction that the universe was centered on her. This one was pensive and very nervous.

"Yes -- a few times."

:I -- I was just wondering, that's all. The two of you seem to have a very strong relationship." And then, a lot more quickly than he would have thought, there was the campground and there was no more time for discussion.

They jumped out of the van simultaneously and started shouting Giles' name. The librarian came racing out of the woods after about thirty seconds of this. Oz sorely wished these had been better circumstances, so he could have asked Giles why he was stripped to the waist -- in, um, both directions --and wearing a belt made out of ivy, but now wasn't the time. "Oz? Cordelia? What are you two doing here? Oz?" he said, cutting off Cordelia in mid-breath. A half-dozen other people similarly unclothed hung back in the woods.

Oz answered, "Willow and Xander were attacked and kidnapped from a classroom."

"Good lord," he said. "Give me thirty seconds."

As he started to duck into the closest tent, Cordelia grabbed his arm. "No! We need you now!" And then she started to drag Giles towards the van.

Pulling his arm free -- which took some doing from the nearly hysterical Cordelia -- Giles straightened up and said, "I will change as I drive. But I am at least going to need my clothes and glasses -- that is, presuming you DO want me to be both able to see and not arrested for indecent exposure."

Then he went into the tent and came out a moment later with his familiar tweed suit and a small bag. "Lead the way," he said.

A minute afterwards, they were on their way to the library.

Curiously, Cordelia continued to say nothing all the way back.

Buffy had said nothing to either of the two of them after the shock of the discovery, and it was really starting to unnerve Willow. Angel had left -- after a quick sotto voce conversation with Buffy. The only thing Willow could overhear were the words, "We'll talk about what Spike said later." What had Spike told them?

Now that they'd been rescued, neither she nor Xander could quite believe what they'd done. It went against almost every moral precept she held to have -- have --

Oh, being coy about it was ridiculous. To have had sex with Xander like that. At the time she'd told herself it was because she was afraid she was going to die, but that was just the rationalization. Her body had taken over, her hormones had been in complete control.

And she and Xander had betrayed two – well, one – of the sweetest, kindest people who'd ever lived, and it wasn't like Cordy deserved to be treated like that either. Surprisingly, Buffy had said nothing all the way back to the high school, but from the look on her face Willow could just tell she was barely keeping her Slayer temper in check.

As they walked through the library's front doors, Buffy waited for Xander and Willow to sit down and then finally spoke. "Well?"

"Well, what?" came Xander's reply. "Thanks for saving our ass, what we did was wrong and we'll never do it again. Right, Will?" Xander sounded desperately cheerful, but Buffy wasn't much for reading moods either.

She slammed her fist down on the check-in counter so hard it cracked. "Xander, DON'T try to be funny right now. I am THIS close –" She held out her thumb and index finger so closely together that Willow couldn't see any space between them – "to hitting the both of you VERY hard. What the hell were you two thinking?"

"We weren't, Buffy –" Willow volunteered timidly.

"Well, congratulations, Will, I think you get the Pulitzer for THAT little scoop."

"Can we just say we feel guilty enough about it that you don't need to rub it in?" Xander asked.

"Oh, no, no, you're not getting off that easy. I used to want the two of you to get together, but sure as hell not like this, when you 're both dating other people. Other people, I might say, who went sick out of their minds worrying about you and who even now are sailing up to find Giles and drag him away from his retreat? People who LOVE you?"

Willow hung her head, not trusting herself to say anything. Xander said, weakly, "Cordy doesn't love me."

"Oh, you think not?" Buffy said. "You should have heard what she told me on Homecoming – anyway. You're going to tell them what you did." Xander shook his head.

"I don't want to hurt Oz," Willow said. Why cause him pain?

"Too late, Will," Buffy shot back. "You tell them, or I will."

And the conservation broke off there as Oz, Cordelia, and a frazzled Giles burst into the library. Willow couldn't pick out the individual conversations for awhile, as hugs and confused chatter were the order of the moment.

All she could hear Buffy tell Giles is, "I'll fill you in on the details later –" before Oz hugged her.

"Glad you're alright," he said. Then he sniffed the air. "Are you okay? You smell different, somehow."

"The – the stress of the captivity," she said, and Oz seemed to accept the answer.

Then Cordelia said, "Excuse me, all of you. May I have your attention, please? I have something I want to say, and I want to say it in public." Then she took Xander's hands and faced him closely. "When I thought I was in danger of losing you – I was really frightened. I was afraid – " she took a deep breath. "I was afraid I'd lose you without the chance to tell you this: Xander Harris, I love you."

And for quite some time afterwards no one knew exactly what else to say.

Part 2

Xander recovered first, with an "Um . . . I love you too?"

Cordelia didn't notice the hesitation. "Of course you do!" Then she looked around the room. "Sheesh, what's with the silent treatment?"

"I had been wondering that myself," Giles said.

Buffy walked over to Giles and grabbed him by an arm. "I'll explain it! In the office . . . because that's where we do all of the explaining!" Then she half-dragged the bemused Watcher into his office and closed the door.

Oz turned to Willow and Xander. "So, what did happen?" Cordelia was still clinging on to one of Xander's arms; he gently but firmly removed it so he could sit down at the library's center table, across from Willow. Cordelia took the seat right next to him and moved the chairs close enough together that the arms were touching.

"All we saw were the signs of the fight," Cordy said.

"It – it was Spike," Willow began. "He'd seen me at the magic shop earlier today and, and . . . "

Oz's eyes lost whatever good humor remained in them. "What did he do to the two of you?"

"Beat the crap out of me, hauled us to the old factory, and threatened to kill me if Willow didn't perform a love spell on Drusilla. Then he left to get the ingredients and . . . well, nothing until Buffy and Angel came in." Xander's voice was hollow, and he stumbled a few times as he said it, but both Cordelia and Oz seemed to mistake this for pain and exhaustion alone. Briefly, Xander caught Willow's eye, and he shook his head no, no, they would NOT be telling Oz and Cordy, not after tonight.

"Nothing further?" Oz said. "Because I'm catching a definite whiff of something right about now, and I don't know what it is, but it's not your normal scent."

Cordelia looked at Oz. "So WAS it Willow you smelled earlier in the evening?"

"I'm thinking so."

Striving to keep the alarm from his voice, Xander said, "Scent?"

"Yes," Oz said. "Apparently a fringe benefit of my werewolf self, one I didn't know completely about until tonight, but right now – for instance, I can smell yours and Willow's scents all over each other."

"You can?" Willow said nervously.

"Yes. I'm guessing Spike kept you two cooped up fairly close."

"That's exactly right," Willow said, letting out a breath. "Cramped quarters."

"God, Xander look at you! You're bruised all over!" Cordelia said, looking at Xander's elbow, which had a nasty welt on it. "What did that monster DO? If I see Spike again, I'll, I'll –"

"Rip his head off with my bare hands," Oz said, matter-of-factly, with no trace of amusement in his voice.

"What he said," Cordelia added. "I mean, look at the two of you right now! Xander's beaten up, both of you so upset you're barely coherent!"

Giles walked back out with Buffy, then; the expression on his face was unreadable. "Willow, Xander, in my office, please. I want to hear EXACTLY what happened tonight."

"Giles the sadist. Can't you see they're in no shape for this?"

Xander added, tiredly, his eyes pleading with Buffy not to blow their cover, "Yeah. Can't we do the debriefing later?"

Buffy said nothing, either way, neither breaking their cover nor backing their play. Eyes and voice tone giving no hint of what Buffy had told him, Giles said, "Very well. But I need to know whether Spike betrayed any information about his plans, his likelihood of return to Sunnydale, etc. Is tomorrow alright?" Both Willow and Xander nodded. "Good. I'll be seeing you then. Buffy –" and both Buffy and Giles returned to the privacy of Giles' office.

Then the four remaining in the library broke up into the obvious couples . . . although Xander and Willow alternated between eyeing each other nervously and refusing to look at each other.

Cordelia and Oz, preoccupied as they were with their loved ones' safety, didn't notice.

Buffy knocked on the front door of Angel's mansion. He came over and gingerly let her in.

"Sorry it's been a while," she said. "But, given the circumstances . . ." they walked further inside, away from the sunlight.

"Yes. What . . . happened there?"

Buffy grimaced. "Nothing, really, yet. Cordelia told Xander she was in love with him before either Xander or Willow could cop to what they'd done. And they didn't think that was the right time to confess, afterwards."

"Do you really think they need to confess? Won't that just hurt Oz and Cordelia unnecessarily?"

"You think they should get away with what they did?" Buffy asked in disbelief.

"What are they getting away with? You and I caught them . . . and from the looks on their faces they're never going to even think about doing that again."

"These things have a way of coming out . . . at exactly the wrong time. I want to minimize the pain."

Angel walked over and put an arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Seems there's more bothering you here than a simple sense of injustice or a desire to have things go smoothly."

The Slayer reached up and gave his hand a quick squeeze, then slipped out of the partial embrace and walked impatiently around the room, her shoes clattering noisily on the floor as she paced. Finally she looked up at him and said. "I'm disappointed in them. There was a time when all I wanted was to have Xander just notice how great Willow was, how pretty she was, how right for him. But that all ended the day they started dating other people."

"I do see your point. I just think in this case, no news is no news." Buffy turned her head for a second and then looked up at Angel plaintively. Angel could offer her no comfort at the moment, unfortunately, at least not on this issue.

Buffy sighed. "And what about what Spike said? That we can't be JUST friends?"

Angel had been hoping to avoid the subject. "I don't agree with him."

"I didn't think you would. I . . . I don't know what to think, at the moment. I've been so mad at Willow and Xander that I haven't had time to think too deeply about it. I mean, he does have something of a point, the attraction is still definitely there."" At that Angel could only nod his head, afraid to say anything, fearful of the next words that might come out of her mouth. If she went away now . . . "I don't know. I don't think we need to shut ourselves off from each other. Became more like . . . allies than friends. But friendly allies, definitely."

"I think . .. " Angel began. "I think we can do that, yes." Angel knew that Spike was right, more right than Buffy cared to admit. But he'd kill himself before he ever let Angelus return, before he ever let his passions completely overwhelm him again. Either this limited contact would help wean he and Buffy off each other . . . or he'd find that he'd never be able to do it.

But then could be saved for then. Right now . . . they moved forward into an awkward embrace, then moved apart. As she began walking towards the door he called out, "Promise you'll be back?"

"I promise," she said.

Then the door closed and all was quiet again.

Part 3

The next few weeks went by quietly, as quietly in Sunnydale goes. Giles finally got Willow and Xander's account of Spike's actions – and gently suggested that they inform their respective partners, but otherwise didn't seem inclined to press them.

Buffy and Giles agreed jointly not to tell Faith; loose cannon that she was (and having heard the way she'd slammed Scott during the Homecoming Dance) she might have just decided to take matters into her own hands.

Vampire and demonic activity continued apace, although there was nothing with any real depth to it until a demon started wandering around killing people. Faith had been about to head off for a while when Buffy convinced her to stick around, apologizing profusely for having never mentioned Angel.

And this time it worked, though it took a while. Faith had clearly been hurt by Buffy's lack of trust, and Buffy said the best way for them to work through that was for Buffy to prove to Faith that she trusted her. So they went hunting together for the demon, and finally caught up to it in a park.

Damn good thing, too, because without Faith there to stab the demon in the back with her knife Buffy would have likely been strangled.

It was stronger than they thought, and smacked Faith into a tree before grabbing Buffy around the neck and lifting her up. Buffy flailed away uselessly before seeing Faith sneak up and angrily stab the sucker in the back several times. When the demon dropped Buffy Faith spun it around and stabbed it in the neck.

Buffy noticed this while gasping for air. After wiping the knife off on the grass Faith came over and hauled Buffy to her feet. "Good thing we're tough, eh B?" Buffy nodded, still not up to talking. "That was a blast, B," she added as the two of them headed back to the library. "We oughtta tagteam like that more often."

Why not? "You're on," Buffy said.

"Good to know." They walked a bit longer in silence before Faith said, "So what was up with the invite, B?

"Just didn't feel like going it alone, that's all."

Faith laughed. "That's what you got your crew for. Xander, Willow, those guys. Why didn't you ring them in?"

"I didn't feel like it." Buffy also didn't feel like talking about it.

"Yeah, I've noticed that a bit recently. Not that it's any of my business or anything."

"It isn't. But thanks."

Faith's eyes brightened. "Well, since you're not up for talking, how about you and me go work out some of that tension?"

"How do you mean?" Buffy frowned.

"Find some vamps, kick their ass, rinse, repeat."

"We really should go tell Giles –"

Faith said teasingly, "C'mon, B. The night is young. What's Giles gotta know about this dude so soon anyway? He gonna be any deader in the morning?"

Buffy thought. "Now that you mention it, not really." She gave a quick shrug.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"After you," Buffy said.

And then the fun started.

Xander and Willow sat at a table at the Bronze, moping (except when Oz, on stage with the Dingoes, chose to look their way). Cordelia, fortunately for Xander, had something she had to do with her parents that evening, so the two of them were free to wallow in their guilt.

And by this point they'd been doing it more or less nonstop for two weeks straight, except when with their significant others. Oz knew full well that Willow and Xander had been out of sorts ever since their captivity, but he chose to attribute it to post-traumatic stress disorder. On the other hand, Cordelia had been so caught up in her newly-admitted love for Xander that she was blind to even that much. She'd been determined to flaunt it, and Xander, wherever possible.

And the thing was, their attraction was gone completely. The shock of discovery – and the look of contempt in Buffy's eyes – had completely driven it from them.

Not that they really knew where it had come from, even. The attraction Willow'd had for Xander – it had never been a physical thing, at least not entirely. And the reverse –

They were hashing this out for the seven hundredth time or so.

"I just don't know –" Willow said, then settled into an uneasy silence..

"We're not making it any easier on ourselves," Xander said desperately. "I say we kick back and enjoy the show."

"You mean that guy on stage we screwed over?"'

"Hey!" Xander exclaimed. "We did NOTHING to Devon."

"Not funny," Willow said, sighing.

"I know."

This seven hundredth repetition of the same discussion was interrupted by a voice saying, "Well, aren't the two of you a lovely couple."

Xander snapped, "Knock it off, Angel. The last thing we need right now is smartass commentary from you."

Angel sat down and looked at Willow, his expression rueful. "Did that sound smartassed?"

Willow answered, "Just a little."

"Well," Angel sighed, "I really didn't mean it to. I meant that I've seen the two of you brooding so strongly you're making me look chipper and upbeat. I wanted to know what I could do to help."

Xander studied Angel's face carefully. "You're serious."

Snorting, Angel said, "Not many people know guilt like I do. I know what you did, and it's bad, but it's nowhere near as bad as some of the things I've done."

Willow piped up, "If you're suggesting we get over it that's kind of hard. Buffy and Giles have been giving us the evil eye for weeks."

"And you're not really inclined to blame them."

"No. What we did –" They smiled a bit when Oz looked their way – "we betrayed them."

"No, you didn't. You betrayed Oz and Cordelia. You simply disappointed Buffy and Giles."

"Wouldja quit with the wordplay? It doesn't make it hurt any less."

"I'd be more worried if it didn't hurt. Now the question is, what are you going to do about it?"

"This is great. Now even YOU'RE going to tell us to confess." Xander had raised his voice almost to the point where other people would stop and stare. "I'm getting lessons on how to live my life from a dead guy."

"Xander, no –" Willow said.

"You've got me wrong. I'm not telling you to confess. That's none of my business. But you HAVE to find a way to deal with this – for your sake, for Buffy's. She needs you."

"Um, not the way she's been acting lately, she doesn't," Willow said.

"Look," Angel said. "If you can't confess, make up for it some other way. Dedicate yourselves to your relationships, try to make up for it. Look at me. Do you think any amount of apologizing is going to set things to rights between me and Giles? No. He may eventually be willing to work with me but he's never going to forgive me, nor should he. The only –" he caught himself and even smiled for a second, as though having some kind of epiphany. Then he continued, "The only thing to do is to make up for it some other way. In your case, devote yourselves to them. Show them how much you love them, care for them. In my case, for instance, I'd need to do good. It doesn't matter that it might not be a quid pro quo; what matters is that I do the best I can. That's all you two can do, either." He stood up. "And on that note, Oz is coming back, so I'd better get going. Think about what I said, would you?" As he walked away he said, "I know I will . . ."

Oz asked as he approached the table, "What was that?"

"Something about him and what he needs to do to make things right," Willow said. "But enough about that, you were great." She kissed him on the nose.

"Yeah," Xander said. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go catch up with Cordy . . ."

Later that evening, Buffy and Faith came into the Bronze and began to dance rather frenetically.

The next night, Buffy said, "Want, take, have. I'm beginning to understand the appeal."

PART 4

Buffy and Faith wandered into the school around ten in the morning, what day she wasn't sure. One of the things she was sure of was that she hadn't actually bothered to show up for homeroom.

Nor, truth be told, did she care; she was having too much fun.

Principal Snyder saw them striding through the halls and moved as if to get in their way. Faith pulled out a knife and flashed it at him, then told him if he as much as looked at Buffy funny she'd find a way to use the knife that she was sure no doctor would approve.

Snyder squeaked and got away as quickly as the tatters of his dignity would allow him. Buffy just stood there stonefaced until Snyder was out of sight, then she burst out laughing. "Nice one, Faith. Direct physical violence." They began walking back down towards the library.

"Hey, he messes with you, he messes with me." Faith resheathed the knife.

"You WERE just bluffing, weren't you?" Buffy asked nervously.

Faith laughed and said, "Hey, B, you can't tell, sure as shit he ain't gonna be able to split the diff." Buffy shrugged and they both walked down the hall.

They both screeched to a halt when they walked through the library's front doors, though. Giles was there and he looked ROYALLY pissed. And unlike Snyder Giles wasn't going to be impressed if Faith flashed a knife.

"Where the bloody hell have you two been?" Giles said. "You were supposed to report in THIS MORNING, before classes started. And not even Xander and Willow knew where you were."

"They wouldn't," Buffy said. "We're kinda on not speaking terms at the moment."

Giles sighed. "So I've noticed. In any event, that's a topic for later discussion. What were the results of last night's patrol?"

"Two hot guys and a kickass party over at UC-Sunnydale," Faith said.

"Unless the party was to summon a demon," Giles said patiently, "Don't bother me with the details. I meant, what kind of action did you see?"

Faith said, "I thought you didn't want the details."

"You KNOW what I mean!" Giles said. "Look. You go do . . . whatever it is you do. I need to talk with Buffy for a bit."

"Suit yourself," Faith said, clapping her hands together. "B, we still on for later?"

Buffy said, "A little quality violence before noon. I like the plan." They slapped palms and Faith bopped her way out of the library. Then she followed Giles into his office. "Okay, Giles, what's the nag du jour?"

"I have so many," he said acidly. "You're skipping school, you're neglecting your training, you're showing up at all hours of day or night, you're not reporting on time –" he took his glasses off and wiped them, his favorite nervous habit – "Buffy, I must say, your behavior is really starting to worry me."

"Really?" Buffy said. "Well, sorry about that, but this is the new me, Giles. I've tried responsible, and you know what? Kinda hard to be the only one."

"You're not the only one."

"Really?" Buffy asked again, disbelief evident in her voice. "Name at least one more." As Giles opened his mouth Buffy said, "You don't count."

"Really?" Giles said, deliberately echoing Buffy's tone.

"Yup. Tell me, Giles, what were YOU called when you were my age, more or less?"

"That is entirely beside the point."

Buffy laughed. "I don't think so, 'Ripper.' See you later." And she turned around and walked out.

Leaving a silent, thoughtful, and very worried Giles behind her.

Noontime.

Buffy and Faith stood over several piles of dust that used to be vampires. Looking down at her clothes, Buffy swore. "Damn. This was a $50 shirt."

Faith said, "B, you still got a bit to learn about fighting vamps the quick and dirty way. Never wear anything you give a crap about – but always make sure you look good. You never know what hot guys might be watching." Faith went and picked up a couple of stakes, then lifted a wallet out of the dust. "Hmmm, fifty bucks."

"I'll keep it in mind." Buffy took Mr. Pointy and gave him a quick wipe.

"Anyway, ain't this great? Just the two of us, kicking ass, taking names, the way it was meant to be?"

"I'm enjoying myself," Buffy said.

"Enjoying yourself?" Faith said mockingly. "Shit, B, you're having more fun than you've ever had in your life and you know it." They walked back towards the door of the abandoned garage. "So, what did Watcherman want?"

"Pretty much what you would have expected," Buffy said. "I'm getting worried, be more responsible, blah blah blah."

"Which you ignored."

"Even better, I threw it back in his face."

"You'll have to tell me how –" Faith shielded her eyes as they walked into the sunlight. "But right now, it's time to go con some guys into buying us lunch."

Smiling, Buffy said, "I'm thinking steak."

Mr. Trick slammed his fist into his palm. "You DO realize that between the two of them they're pretty well decimating the local muscle, right? Getting harder and harder to find vamps willing to do the gruntwork."

Clasping his hands together, Mayor Wilkins said, "That won't matter soon enough. Tea?"

Trick gave the Mayor a controlled dirty look. "No thanks. Yeah, I know you got these big plans for becoming invincible, but you gotta know that's gonna be a job of work if we don't have anyone to do the scutwork but thee and me. I mean, you and me ain't exactly frontline employees."

"I don't think this is part of a plan," the Mayor said. "I think they're just killing for its own sake. I got a report from Snyder right here." The Mayor handed Trick a report, which he scanned.

"The girl's got style, I gotta give her that."

"Is that your only comment?"

"No – but how can we take advantage of this? It's a good five weeks before your ritual."

"For the moment, call in those you trust." Trick said nothing. "Oh, come now, Mr. Trick, surely you have some vampires who can be counted on to toe the line."

"Toeing the line ain't the long suit for we vampires, Mayor. Still, I got a couple of cohorts. Why do you ask?"

"So we keep the trustworthy ones out of harm's way, and let the other ones take the brunt. When the time comes we can always make more. As long as the Slayers are going after everyone else –"

Trick caught on. "They're not coming after us."

The Mayor smiled again. "Exactly. Now, come, drink your tea before it gets cold."

Part 5

This was going to be a big night. It was Xander and Cordelia's anniversary, and they were on an honest-to-god date – and amazingly, Xander'd remembered (though she expected Willow had had something to do with that).

Cordelia had given Buffy and Giles strict instructions that unless Amageddon were about to hit – you never knew, in this town – they were not to be disturbed.

Not that Buffy would have likely noticed, anyway, as much time as she was spending with Faith. Cordelia frankly didn't see the appeal, though she admired Faith's ability to do more with less – the girl had NO budget for makeup but still managed to make herself look pretty good, in an I'm-a-slut kind of way.

This didn't give Buffy a whole lot of time to hang out with the rest of them, though Cordelia wasn't exactly complaining. Yeah, fighting evil was important, but the less she and Xander were called into battle, the less chance Xander had of dying.

Or her either.

Putting someone else first . . . god, who could have imagined THAT? She imagined that if she were to go back in time and talk to that Cordy who'd first made out with Xander in Buffy's basement and told her how she'd feel in a year – how much she'd love Xander Harris – she would have laughed in her face,

That girl just didn't know what she was missing.

Anyway, here they were at one of Sunnydale's nicer restaurants – it had probably blown Xander's budget for the next couple of months to afford the place – and he'd been SO nice the whole night, trying to make sure she felt good, she was doing okay, she liked the food . . . he hadn't mentioned Buffy or Willow once.

No, the whole conversation – or as much of it as he came up with – had been about her.

Did he know how to make her happy, or what?

Still, much as Cordelia appreciated the effort – all of this her-her-her wasn't, well, her anymore. Not completely. So when it was her turn to talk she did her best to talk about things Xander was interested in.

One thing she didn't talk to him about was his experiences in the factory. Weeks later, he and Willow were STILL shaken by what went on down there. She and Oz had gotten together a couple of times to talk about it; Willow was at least able to discuss it, but still didn't want to go into details. At their second meeting, they'd reiterated their threats against Spike, if the vampire was brain-dead enough to show his face in Sunnydale again.

So they passed the night in chit-chat until it was time to go home.

"So, the meal was your present, right?" Cordelia asked. Xander nodded. "Okay. I've got my present waiting for you back at my house."

"A new car?" Cordelia didn't answer. "A used car?" Still no answer. "A skateboard?"

Finally, she laughed and said, "You'll see when you get there."

When they actually got home, Xander hung back as Cordelia went to the door. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Trying to stay out of your parents' way," he said.

Cordelia walked over to him, put her hands on his shoulders, looked into his eyes, and said, "Look. Xander. I love you. I don't know how I can make it any clearer. I don't care what my parents think of you; I don't care what anyone thinks of you. You don't embarrass me." She took a deep breath. "You will NEVER embarrass me. No matter what you do." He smiled a little at that. Well, finally. "Besides, even if you tried to embarrass me tonight, you couldn't. They're away for a week." She opened the door. "So come on in."

They went inside, and then upstairs. "I've got your gift in here," she said, entering her room. "Hold on a second."

A minute or so later, she handed a package out into the hall through a narrow doorcrack. She could hear Xander opening it, pulling out the negligee, then . . . "This isn't really my size."

She opened the door, where she was standing in a duplicate of the negligee. "It's not for you. It's for me. Your gift . . . is getting to take it off."

Xander's eyes popped, but he didn't go into the room. He said something to himself she couldn't quite catch. When she strained, she heard, ". . . don't deserve . . ."

Cordelia said, "If I didn't think you deserved this, I wouldn't be doing it. Now get your butt in here."

He muttered one other thing – something about "best boyfriend I can be . . ." and came into the room.

And the rest of the night is no one's business but theirs.

"Can we talk?" Angel asked.

Giles said, "I . . . have very little to say to you. If anything."

"I know. And I wouldn't have come for anything about me. But this isn't about me."

The Watcher's head shot up. "Is Buffy in trouble?"

"Yes. But not the kind of trouble we're used to dealing with. Buffy's taking all her cues from Faith these days, from how to dress to how to act to how to blow off school. Especially with what happened with Willow and Xander – I'm just afraid this isn't going to stop until some kind of disaster hits."

Gritting his teeth, Giles said, "I understand your concerns. Fortunately, they've already been fixed – Buffy's mother and I had a conversation, and Buffy will be coming back to school again starting tomorrow."

"That's nice, but—"

"Thanks for your concern," Giles said. The sheer bloody CHUTZPAH of the vampire! Coming to him like this!

He slammed the door in Angel's face and tried to get back to his studies.

A few nights later, Buffy and Faith patrolled; so far all they'd run across is a handful of newbie vampires who would have hardly been a challenge for Xander.

They'd just finished off two of them when Buffy said, "Hate to say it, I'm gonna have to blow off that demon nest takedown until tomorrow evening. I have to go to school tomorrow."

"What do you mean, you have to go to school tomorrow?" Faith demanded as they took a breather, leaning against a mausoleum. "I thought you were all into blowing that off."

"Well, I WAS," Buffy said, "Until my mother reminded me of the trouble she and Giles went through getting me back into the place. Don't worry. I've got no plans to start studying too hard or anything; the nights are still ours."

Faith said, "You know, B, you're lucky to have a mom like that."

"What, you mean one who's into not letting me study? I didn't exactly fill her in on that part of the equation."

"I mean one who gives enough of a crap about you to have fought for you like that. Mine –" She broke off.

"I remember what you said – 'my dead mother hits harder than you.' Faith didn't say anything. "I take it this means she hit you?"

"Until I got the juice to hit her back," Faith said. "She died a couple of years later, not like I gave a crap by that point." She stood up and stretched. "Look, this touchy-feely talk is starting to weird me out. Anything in your deal with your mom about not staying out all night?"

"Yeah . . . but I didn't say a damn thing about not going right back out again. What've you got in mind?"

"I know this after-hours joint . . . you up?"

"You know I am."

From the shadows, Angel watched. "Fixed," he said sadly. "Fixed . . ."

Part 6

A few days later Buffy walked in on Willow and Xander chatting with Giles.

Over the last few weeks, she'd begin talking a bit with them again; they hadn't blown up the planet, after all. Still, they weren't as close as they had been.

On some level, this bothered Buffy; Xander and Willow'd been her best friends since she hit Sunnydale. On another, she couldn't have cared less; she and Faith were having too much fun with the wake up, kill some vampires, party 'til dawn, rinse, repeat routine.

And if no one else was going to be responsible, then why the hell should she be?

Anyway, to make a long story short, turned out some demon calling herself Anyanka was going around cursing men who weren't nice to their girlfriends or wives. Not that Buffy was crying over some of the victims, but others had ended up dead or maimed. You could summon her, but usually she showed up on her own.

"So, just aim me in the right direction and pull the trigger," Buffy said. "Me and Faith can take down anything."

"It's not that easy," Giles said. "Anyanka's tougher than most of your recent opponents –"

"Good," Buffy said. "Most of what we've been killing recently have been rookies. It'll be good to have a challenge."

"This is not a challenge you can meet by simply hitting harder," Giles said, obviously a little pissed. "Anyanka's not simply stronger, she's also more magically skilled and a lot more experienced. There are reports on her dating back a thousand years!"

"Yeah, Buff, slow down," Xander said. "You're starting to worry us." Willow nodded her head in agreement.

"Oh, NOW you're worried about consequences," Buffy said. "Look. You guys do the research, tell us how to kill this Aunt-Sanka demon, and let me know when it's time for me and Faith to do it. Until then? Don't try to run my life, because you can't run yours." She turned and walked out.

Xander turned to Giles. "Do you think we've suffered enough? Because, sure, I still feel guilty. But she's pushing it too far."

"The problem is worse than a simple reaction to your shared indiscretion, I fear," Giles said. "Once she returned to school I'd hoped she'd start being more responsible, but it hasn't really taken. Heaven only knows why she hasn't been suspended yet –"

"Faith threatened to gut Snyder if he tried it," Willow said.

"Really," Giles said. "Under other circumstances I might find that funny. But now –" He took off his glasses and started wiping them. "Much as I hate to say it, it seems Angel was right."

It's an indication of how serious things were that Xander didn't go for a joke, but simply said, "About what?"

"He came to visit me about a week ago," I said, "To talk about Buffy's problems. And I was in no mood to talk to him."

"Understandable," Xander said.

Giles laughed humorlessly. "Yes. Being tortured does tend to throw off one's objectivity a tad. Still, he seemed to think they were even more serious than I thought -- and I'm afraid I may have ignored his warnings."

"We're not ignoring them now," Willow said.

"The problem is, what do we do about it?" Xander said. "I mean, it's not like an intervention would work; she'd probably laugh it off and leave."

"There's still one person who seems to have some influence over her," Giles said. "Meanwhile, we do need to find out how to defeat Anyanka."

"Nothing but rookies, third night in a row," Faith said. "This is getting boring."

"I hear you," Buffy said. "But don't worry. I was talking to Giles earlier today and it seems we got a new demon in town."

"Sounds like fun," Faith said. "Where is he? I could use a good fight. Right now, only thing around here my level is you."

"Like you could take me," Buffy said. "Anyway, this demon's a she. Goes around avenging scorned women by killing or maiming their boyfriends." She gave Faith a thirty-second summary, all the other Slayer had patience for.

"Not sure if I wanna beat her up or join her," Faith said.

Buffy laughed. "I'm not saying I'm not down with her motivation, just her results. I mean, I felt like killing Scott, but I wouldn't have. Besides, the way you went about was a lot more fun."

"You know what, B? I think I'm getting me an actual plan. This Anyanka helps scorned women, right?" Buffy nodded. "Well, you're a scorned woman."

"So I am."

Giles was stunned when Buffy and Faith both showed up to do a bit of research later that night, though honestly the amount of research Faith did could have been charitably described as "minimal." She spent most of her time flexing, working out, and acting impatient.

After an hour or so, Giles was about to snap at her when he said, "No. I won't. I – I'll be back in a moment. Please keep studying." Then he walked inside his office and placed a short series of phone calls, the most important to the only person in Buffy's life who seemed to have any control over her at all. The problems with finding a way to try to force Buffy to realize what she were twofold: One, she was almost never where she was supposed to be, and two, she and Faith were practically joined at the hip.

He had a plan for that, though; he was going to send Faith down to Willy's to ask about Anyanka. Odds were, he wouldn't know anything, but since it involved hurting people Faith wouldn't mind in the least.

Finally, he hung up and went back to the main room.

Buffy and Faith were gone, of course. As was one of his . . . books?

The one that summoned Anyanka. They knew how to summon her; they DIDN'T yet know how to defeat her. Bloody marvelous.

They had to break into the magic store to get the ingredients they needed, but Buffy spoiled Faith's fun by insisting they leave some money behind. "You can make weapons," she explained. "Some of these things are beyond rare. I'm not going to gyp the person who might save our butts later."

Then they headed for the nearest open space to actually summon the demon – when things got messy, they didn't want to be cramped up in a building. Turned out that was the cemetery nearest the high school.

One ritual later, Buffy was confronted by a vengeance demon. (Faith was in hiding.) "Anyanka, right?" Buffy asked.

"You have not been scorned recently," she said.

"I didn't realize there was a time limit." Faith crept behind Anyanka during the conversation.

Grumbling, Anyanka said, "There's not." After a second, "Go on, make your wish. It's not like I have all day." She fingered her necklace

"I wish . . . I wish . . . I wish you'd die."

"D—what?"

And then Faith rammed a sword directly through the demon's back.

The demon looked down and said, "Ouch! Those hurt, you know!"

Then she turned around hit Faith hard enough to send her slamming into a gravestone ten feet away.

Maybe this wasn't going to be as much fun as Buffy thought . . .

The four of them heard the sounds of the struggle as they left the high school and redoubled their pace.

"They can handle it," Xander said. "They're Slayers."

"In a sheer physical contest," Giles said, "Anyanka is their equal – and she cannot be permanently harmed as long as she's wearing her necklace."

They rounded the corner and saw the fight in the distance. Buffy and the demon were involved in combat, while Faith was nowhere to be seen. Giles called out to Buffy, but she was too distracted to hear him.

Two things happened simultaneously, a few seconds later:

Giles yelled to Buffy, "Buffy! You have to destroy the necklace –"

And they practically ran over Faith, who'd been thrown against a gravestone and was just now standing up.

Acting on instinct, as she so often did, Faith whipped out a knife and stabbed forth savagely.

Buffy yelled, "FAITH! NO!"

-- and the tip of Faith's knife stopped a millimeter short of Joyce Summers' heart.

Part 7

It's funny how suddenly things that seemed so important can suddenly seem so . . . well, not.

Since Faith had been knocked out by Anyanka's punch, Buffy had to fight the vengeance demon single-handed. And Anyanka was stronger, and a lot more resistant to injury, than they'd thought. Buffy was gradually coming to the conclusion that her and Faith's plan might not have been the best thought-out plan in the history of plans, when she heard Giles yelling, "Buffy! You have to destroy the necklace!"

Keeping one eye on Anyanka, she turned and saw Giles, Willow, Xander and – her mother? – running towards the action, and she saw Faith stand up as the group almost collided with her.

And she saw Faith react as Faith usually did: By stabbing first and asking questions later. And the knife was headed directly for her mother's heart.

"FAITH!" Buffy screamed. "NO!"

Whether by miracle or that Faith's reflexes were just that good, Buffy's mother did not die that day. Faith stopped just in time . . . and then just stood there, a look of horror on her face.

Taking advantage of Buffy's understandable distraction, Anyanka picked Buffy up and threw her against a nearby mausoleum, then teleported away.

It was as though that had been a signal. Faith dropped the knife and ran off.

As Buffy stood up, she didn't even care that she'd just lost a fight, or that Anyanka had escaped. She ran over to her mother and said, "Oh, god. Mom! I'm –"

Silence overtook everyone as they looked down and saw how close they'd come: Her mother's blouse had been sliced through. (Later, they'd discover a tiny nick in her mother's skin. A quarter of a second slower – if Faith had been a quarter second slower –)

"I think we need to have a long talk," Giles said. "All of us."

Buffy sighed. "You're right."

In some nether dimension, somewhere, Anyanka and D'Hoffryn were arguing. "How dare they!" she said, annoyed. "I came there to help them and they tried to kill me!"

"Feel like a little vengeance, do you?" D'Hoffryn rumbled.

"Absolutely," Anyanka said. "I want to go back to Sunnydale and tear their heads off. Or get some demon to do it for me."

"Let me remind you," he said, "That you will do no good as a vengeance demon if you're killed."

"Oh, but I don't plan to be killed. I plan to kill them. Slowly. Painfully. I don't like being stabbed." She stopped. "I think I'll wish that they felt the same thing I did. Once a day. For the rest of their lives!"

D'Hoffryn repressed a sigh. "You are not allowed to grant yourself a wish," he said. "And neither are any of the other demons allowed to grant you one."

"Then I will tear them in two, but I WILL have my revenge!"

"No."

"No? We're vengeance demons! This is what we do!"

"Not for ourselves." D'Hoffryn frowned. "Tell me, how long has it been since you've been on a vacation?"

"A vacation? I don't take vacations."

"Just as I thought. As of now, you're taking one." He waved a hand. "For the foreseeable future, you will not be able to grant wishes or teleport. And you are not to go within 500 miles of Sunnydale."

"But this –"

"I'm only granting you this chance because I'm so fond of you," D'Hoffryn said. "My next level of discipline involves a fire and placing you in the middle of it." Anyanka said nothing. "Very well then," he continued. "Would you prefer Fiji or Orlando? We fit right in at Universal Studios –"

Faith lay on her bed, sleepless, her eyes wide open, staring at nothing and everything at once. There was a knock at her door. "Come in," she said lifelessly.

Buffy came in. "Hey."

"Hey."

Buffy walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed. For a long time neither of them said anything; Buffy seemed to be searching for the right words to say, and Faith evidently preferred the quiet. Finally, Buffy said, "She got away."

"Kinda guessed she would." After another silence. "No one got hurt?"

"Other than you and me, no."

Faith nodded. "Good." Then she laughed, bitterly. "You know, B? I figured you came down here to clean my clock."

Buffy shook her head. "No. Nothing happened. Well, mom's blouse was ripped –"

"I'll mail her a check."

"Faith –" Buffy began. "Faith. I wouldn't have come down here to clean your clock even if you – " she stopped, finding the concept too painful.

Faith didn't. "Even if I had stabbed your mother and killed her?" Another bitter laugh. "Somehow I doubt you would've been down here bringing me tea and cookies."

Buffy's response was more rueful than indignant. "No, probably not. But I would have understood it was an accident."

"So if you didn't come down here to beat the hell out of me, why did you come down here?" Faith said after a few moments.

"After you left," Buffy said, "And after Anyanka threw me against a mortuary and poofed out of there, Giles said we all needed to talk. So we went back to the library where – well, they told me how much of an idiot I'd been for the last few weeks, and in how many ways I'd been that idiot. And I went along with it, because, well, let's face it: They were right. I was pissed at Xander, pissed at Willow, pissed at the entire situation – and that brought you and me to that scene in the cemetery that nearly got my mom shishkabobbed."

"The highway to hell, and I was the cabbie who picked you up."

"Something like that," Buffy said wryly.

"So instead of pounding me with your fists, you came down to do it with words. Nice, B. Blame it all on me –"

"You're getting it wrong, Faith. At the end of it, I told them I was glad for the life preserver, but I wasn't getting out of the ocean."

"Huh?"

"Because I wasn't going to save my own ass and leave you here to drown."

"Great. You came down here to save me."

"I surely did."

Faith sighed. "Not interested. Let me drown."

"Your final word?"

"Damn right."

"Okay then." Buffy stood up and clapped her hands. "Where are we going?"

"Huh?"

Buffy shrugged. "'cause, come on, there's a party out there with our names on it; there's vamps that need killing, and guys that need screwing, and we're never gonna get any of it done if you just lie there on your ass on that bed. So . . ." she picked up the mattress and dumped Faith on the floor. "Move it, girl."

Faith stood up. "You can't be serious."

Laughing, Buffy said, "Why not? I told you, Faith, we go down, we go down together."

And then, the longest silence of the night, as the two Slayers stood there and watched each other.

Faith grabbed Buffy by the hands. "You really think I'm worth rescuing, B?"

Buffy smiled, a small smile. "I surely do."

"Then let's go grab that rope."

And they walked out of the hotel room together.

Part 8

"I hate losing my sewing room," Joyce said.

Her daughter looked at her in disbelief. "Please! Like you sew."

"You never know," Joyce said. "I could take it up again."

Faith came bounding up the stairs, carrying her belongings in one shabby suitcase. "Well, gee," she said, "Make me feel loved."

"It's not that I mind having you here," Joyce said.

"Yeah, you do," Faith said. "It's okay. I dunno if I'd want the girl who nearly killed me in the next room over either." She laughed. "Blame B."

"Oh, I do," Joyce said sternly. "And I'll be taking it out on her for months." The idea for Faith to move into their spare room had been, of course, Buffy's. To Joyce's surprise, Mr. Giles had gone along with it, saying that it was far healthier for Faith to have a stable environment – especially if she was serious about reforming.

Joyce knew Buffy was. But in that long conversation they'd had a couple of nights ago, Buffy was absolutely determined that they couldn't just save her and let Faith hang out to dry. And so their commitment to dragging Buffy back from the abyss became a greater commitment than any of them had anticipated.

Joyce had sworn to herself that she'd approach the situation with an open mind. Faith had been right about her apprehension, on one level, but Joyce knew she hadn't meant any of it.

This made the situation somewhat easier to bear. Somewhat, but not completely. She suspected she'd have nightmares for weeks, if not months.

"Months?" Buffy said. "You said weeks!"

Joyce shrugged. "I lied."

Faith looked around the room. "Not bad," she said. "Not bad at all." She plopped the suitcase down. "A little girly for my tastes, but seeing as how it's saving me on rent, I can't really complain." She started to jump up and down on the bed. She seemed almost girlish when she did so; Faith's face showed the wear and tear of someone twice her age, but something as simple as this seemed to make it disappear.

Joyce let her jump for about thirty seconds or so, and then said "You're not staying here completely rent-free, you know."

"I'm not?"

"She's not?"

Neither she nor Giles had told the girls this. "I've taken the liberty of getting your transcripts from your last high school . . ."

Faith's jaw dropped. "You wouldn't."

"I will, and I am. You get a couple of days settling in time, but as of next Monday you're entering the 11th grade at Sunnydale High School."

Faith eyed Buffy suspiciously. Buffy threw up her hands. "I had no idea! I swear!"

"Uh-huh," Faith said. "Just wait for our next training session." Then she stopped. "How'd you get this past that troll Snyder?"

"That's not nice," Joyce said. "It's true, but it's not nice." Faith laughed. "I have no idea; when Mr. Giles and I told him about it, he looked like he was about to have a seizure. He went into his office, and five minutes later came back and said you could go."

"I wish I could have seen the look on his face," Buffy said.

"He looked like he'd just swallowed an entire lemon."

"Hello there, Trick. I have some Exciting news to report."

"And what would that be, your Honor? Maybe that my boys can get a little action? A couple of weeks of hiding out and they're getting a mite . . . antsy."

The Mayor smiled. "Well, if they want, I can give them Allan here to play with. As long as I get him back in one piece." The Deputy Mayor looked around the room, as though judging his chances of escape. From the look on his face, the odds weren't in his favor.

Trick said, "I can't guarantee that."

"Well . . . " then he chuckled. "Come on, Allan, I'm only funning with you. You're much too valuable to me to waste like that. Good assistants are hard to come by."

The Deputy Mayor laughed like someone who didn't get the joke. "If you say so, sir."

"So," the vampire said. "Not that I'm not having a blast with all this mental torture, but what's the news? I got me some bloodsuckers to pacify."

"Oh, we'll throw 'em a few criminals or something. Allan. Arrange an 'escape' from the town jail, would you?"

"Right away, sir," the man said, and practically ran from the room.

Then, for once, Mayor Wilkins got right down to business. "I got a call from Snyder earlier today. Apparently the other Slayer wishes to begin attending Sunnydale High." Trick was clearly confused as to why this was relevant. "Tell me," he went on. "How much of the local vampire population have they killed in the last few weeks?"

"A good fifty percent. Even the dumber ones have been heading to high ground."

"Well, apparently the Slayers have had some kind of epiphany, and they're going to walk a somewhat straighter and narrower path." He chuckled. "It's good to see young people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps like that. Gives he hope for the future of our country. " After a second, "In any event, Snyder simply wanted my say-so to give the idea of the other one coming to Sunnydale the old heave-ho.I could practically hear the fit of apoplexy he was having when I told him to admit her."

"All . . . very nice, but I'm still not sure of the relevance."

The Mayor sighed. "Well, obviously if they're not spending the entire day trying to kill all the vampires in town –"

"It makes things a little safer for my boys," Trick said.

"Yes, but remember that safer is a relative concept," the Mayor said. "These are still Slayers, after all; it's beyond hope that they've reformed that much. The other thing is that if they're in school – "

"We can keep more of an eye on them."

"Exactly," the Mayor said, smiling. "So maybe they won't try to interrupt my ritual." He pointed to a pot behind him. "And now, how about some coffee?"

"I've been making the rounds," Buffy said. "Said my sorries to Angel, Giles, mom and now you guys. Apology accepted?" She, Xander and Willow were sitting in the Bronze; Oz was on stage and Cordelia was due to meet them a bit later.

"Of course," Xander and Willow said in unison.

"Whew. Load off."

"We have another problem," Willow said.

"What's that?" Buffy asked.

"What are you going to say to Oz and Cordy? They've been noticing the way you've been treating us – not saying you weren't justified in being angry, but –"

"But you're worried that I can't explain why and apologize without spilling the beans of your sordid rendezvous."

"Got it in one," Xander said.

"Don't worry," Buffy said. "While I'm still annoyed that you haven't told them the truth, it isn't up to me to ruin what you have going. Just –" Dingoes stopped playing, and the conversation halted for a second.

Willow said, "Just what?"

"Well, secrets DO come out. Not always on purpose, not always the way you think. Just be careful."

"We will," Xander said. "Oz! My man!"

Oz nodded. "Greetings." Then he nodded to Buffy. "Hey. Feeling better?"

"A little. Being responsible again is just like riding a bike . . . only without the pedals . . . or the handlebars."

"Or the horn," Oz said.

And then Cordelia walked up, gave Xander a quick kiss, and said hello to everyone. "Well. Buffy. Surprise to see you by yourself. What's the matter, they lock your playmate up in the psycho ward?"

"Cordy –"

"No, I deserved that," Buffy said, holding up a hand. "Cordelia. Oz. Look. I think I owe you guys an apology."

"No," Oz said. "You don't. You owe the apology to Willow and Xander."

"Done already!" Willow said. "And we accepted, too." Xander nodded in agreement.

"I would, however, like an explanation," Cordelia said. "Xander and Willow nearly get KILLED and you act like they're the ones who did something wrong. What the hell is up with that?"

"I owe you two the truth," Buffy said. Willow and Xander exchanged nervous looks. "I . . . was afraid," Buffy lied. "Being around me had almost gotten them dead. I guess I thought if I did what I did – if they didn't hang around me so much – maybe there was a less of a chance of them getting hurt. But I was wrong in the way I went about it – and wrong that I did it at all."

Oz shrugged. "Seems reasonable to me."

"Yeah, well," Cordelia said. "I'm still a little ticked at you. But I guess if everyone else can get over it, so can I." She looked at Xander. "Walk me home?"

After they left, Buffy said, "They're calling it a night awfully early, don't you think?"

"You don't know?" Willow asked. Then, looking at Oz. "She doesn't know."

"Apparently not."

"Don't know what?" Buffy said.

"Well," Willow began. "It seems I have a lot to catch you up on. First . . ."

A couple of mornings later, Angel woke violently from a dream about attacking a man named Daniel at Christmastime.

Later that night, talking with Buffy, he saw Daniel in the street.

Part 9

The next morning, Buffy, Willow and Xander left their classrooms. As Buffy and Willow opened their lockers, Faith walked over to join them.

Buffy said, " . . . it was so weird."

Xander said, "Angel? Weird? What are the odds?"

"Hey, B. 'dja tell them about the ghosts yet?"

As Xander and Willow absorbed this, they glared at Buffy, who threw a similarly evil look towards Faith and said, "I was getting to that." To her credit, Faith looked a little sheepish.

"Ghosts?" Xander asked. "Didn't we already do ghosts?" Buffy took off her jacket and put it in her locker.

"What, we only have to fight the same kind of bad guy once or it's somehow not fair?" Buffy asked.

"Right! Someone should write the commissioner!"

"Slaying doesn't have a commissioner," Buffy said.

"Well, see, that's what's wrong with it."

Ignoring Xander, Buffy said, "He said that he saw someone from his past behind me. Someone . . . he'd killed."

"Gotta say, guy's got quite a memory. I mean, that's one out of what, hundreds? Thousands?"

Buffy said, annoyed, "Enough, Xander. Anyway, the weird thing is I couldn't see him. But Angel swore he was there, and it didn't sound like he'd gone delusional. So Faith and I looked up a few things –"

"You guys did research?" Willow said, not completely able to hide the disbelief in her voice.

Faith laughed. "Can't say it was the most exciting evening I've ever had. But B seemed determined, and, well –" she clouted Buffy on the shoulder. "I owe her a couple million." Buffy smiled. You had to hand it to Faith: Once she set her mind to something, stone walls wouldn't stand in her way.

"You gonna tell Giles?" Willow asked.

"No," Buffy said, shaking her head. "I don't want to bug him yet. He's still kinda twitchy when it comes to the subject of Angel." Her look of death at Xander stopped him from making any further comments, though he obviously wanted to say something.

"That means no mentioning it training next period?" Faith asked.

"No. We want to keep Giles out of this as long as we can."

When Giles opened his front door, he was surprised to see Angel there. "Hello," he said. The vampire looked a bit frazzled.

Angel took a deep breath – for show, Giles assumed – and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, but –"

Giles interrupted him. "It is a bother. But I suppose one that can't be helped. What do you want?" He said the last phrase harshly, but restrained some of the bitterness he felt.

"I need your help." Giles' face was a combat zone of warring emotions. "I understand I have no right to ask for it – I've already mentioned part of my problem to Buffy, but this is more up your alley than hers."

Saying, "Alright," Giles walked back into his apartment – where he then stopped. "No," he said. "I'm not going to do it this way. The last time you talked to me, I ignored you and it was to my detriment. I shan't make the same mistake twice. Come in."

Angel walked slowly into the apartment. "Thank you," he said. "I've had dreams lately. About the past – it's like I'm living it again. And then when I wake up, I see the people. I saw one when I was talking to Buffy. Also I – I – I need to know why I'm here." His voice took on a slight pleading tone with the last sentence.

"Here? Back on Earth?

"Yes," Angel said. "I should be in a demon dimension suffering an eternity of torment." With effort, Giles held his tongue. "But I'm not. And I don't understand why."

"Do you feel these visions are related to your question?"

"It's like I'm being reminded of all the evil I did – like I don't belong here. And I want to know if I do." His gaze suddenly focused behind Giles' shoulder, and he took a step backwards, almost involuntarily.

Giles turned his head, but saw nothing. "What are you looking at?" he asked. Then it struck him. "You're seeing someone else you murdered, aren't you?"

"You can't see her?" Giles said not. The vampire took a step backwards. "It's – you're right."

"And you need to know if this is a punishment, or something else."

"Exactly." Then, in some fear, Angel said, "I have to go. Please. Help me figure this out." Then he turned and ran out the door.

Giles watched him run. If the vampire was truly being afflicted by visions of his victims, Giles wasn't so sure he didn't deserve it.

But for Buffy's sake, he supposed he should at least do his best to help Angel solve his dilemmas.

In the library, Buffy and Faith were talking to Giles about the dream of Angel's Buffy had shared. "And you didn't have this dream?" the Watcher asked Faith.

"Naah, but no reason I would. I'm not the one with a mystical connection to vamp-boy. I'm just here for moral support."

Buffy gave Faith a quick grin, then said, "There's something wrong with him."

"I know," Giles said. "I've seen him. Not only did he want to know about these visions – he wanted to know why he was back."

"Is there a way for us to find that out? I tried a bit of research on my own, so I know these aren't ordinary ghosts we're talking about. But that kind of philosophical stuff's a bit out of my league."

"We may be able to," Giles said as he polished his glasses. "I've been looking."

"Well, let us help." Giles looked back and forth between Buffy and Faith. "I'm not seeing him anymore," Buffy said. "But we're still allies, we still might need his help, and it'd be a big help if we weren't doing guest spots in each others' dreams."

"I must say I'm surprised to see you going along with this," Giles told Faith.

The other Slayer shrugged. "I'd rather be out busting a few heads; but B tells me this is important, I got no reason not to believe her." She grinned. "Besides, maybe if I learned how to do this research thing a little better next time we wanted to take down an Anyanka we'd know what we were doing."

Before Giles could answer, Xander and Cordelia walked in. "Figures we'd find you all here," Cordelia said. "Still trying to figure out those visions?"

"Yup," Buffy said. 'Hey, weren't you headed to Aspen?"

Cordelia said, "Aspen is so two years ago. Besides, I have," and she squeezed Xander's arm, "Better things to do."

Faith eyed the duo appraisingly and leered. "Well, all right then." Cordelia glared at her but didn't say anything.

Xander said, "Do you need any help?" Buffy and Giles exchanged startled looks, and Xander said, "Look, I'm aware I haven't been the mostest best friend to you when it comes to the whole Angel thing, and . . . I don't know, maybe I finally got the Chanukah spirit."

Cordelia added, "As long as it doesn't take all night or anything."

Faith said, "'cause you got other plans for all night, right?"

Before Cordelia could respond, Giles stepped between her and Faith and said, "If we all work together, no, it should not take the entire evening. Now where we begin is with research . . . "

Elsewhere, at the mansion on Crawford Street, Angel was being subjected to the musings of a businessman he'd killed.

" . . . how artful it was," the man said. In the dark, they looked just like they were sleeping. It wasn't until I bent down and kissed them good night that I felt how cold they were. You . . ."

Angel still wasn't sure if this was righteous punishment, or the work of some exceptionally sinister villain, but whichever it was having an effect. What kept him going was knowing that Buffy and Giles were doing their best to figure it out.

The businessman transformed into Margaret, another one of his victims. " . . .that's what makes you different than other beasts. They kill to feed . . ." He didn't answer.

But he couldn't hold out forever.

Part 10

Xander and Cordelia had left the library around midnight; Willow had called in with an apology, saying that she and Oz had had something planned but she could drop by later. Giles had told her not to bother. He got up from his desk to get another book – and noticed Buffy and Faith sitting at the table. Actually, he noticed Buffy sitting at the table, and Faith asleep, her head on a book.

Noticing Giles, Buffy said, "We decided to kind of do a tag-team. I'm gonna wake her up in a few minutes."

Giles said, "I wasn't going to say anything," and as Faith shifted position slightly, walked back into his office.

A couple of minutes later – just as he thought he'd found something -- he was startled to hear Faith swearing at the top of her lungs. When he got out of the office, she was standing up and breathing heavily. "What on Earth –"

"That's what I'd like to know," Faith said. "I just had a nice dream of Angel screwing me and then trying to kill me. And there was this freaky guy standing there –"

"No eyes," Buffy said. "I saw him in my dream too. But – why would YOU dream of sex with Angel?"

"Beats hell out of me," Faith said. "I may play it fast and loose but I don't get my jollies making it with the undead." Then, realizing what she'd said, she said, "No offense meant, B." She genuinely seemed worried that Buffy might have been insulted.

"None taken," Buffy said, and quite clearly meant it. "But I think we just got the proof we needed that this is someone messing with Angel's head. Wouldn't you say, Giles?"

"Actually," Giles said. "I may already have something." He walked into his office and picked up the stack of old papers lying there, and went back out and spread them before Buffy and Faith. "Take a look," he said. "These letters refer to an ancient power known as The First."

"The First?" Faith said. "Kinda full of themselves, aren't they?" She looked intently at one of the pages.

"The First what?" Buffy asked.

Grimly, Giles said, "Evil. Absolute evil. Older than man, than demons. It could have had the power to bring Angel back."

Pointing to one of the pages, Faith said, "That's the guy doin' the peeping-tom routine in my dream."

Giles looked at the paper. "They're known as the Bringers or Harbinger. They're high priests of the First . . ."

A few minutes later, Buffy and Faith had left, determined to pound some answers out of the Bringers or die trying.

Angel woke from his bizarre dream, the ghost of Jenny Calendar sitting next to him. "You want her?" she asked.

Panting – some habits were hard to break – Angel said, "No."

The ghost was relentless. "Take her. Take what you want. Pour all that frustration and all that guilt into HER, and you'll be free."

The spirit must have been shocked when Angel laughed and said, "No." See, whoever this was had made a grave mistake. They'd shown Angel a vision of making love . . . to FAITH. And hurting her. And the possibility of that had never been one of his nightmares.

So this wasn't a nightmare, and this wasn't God torturing him. He – he still had things to think about. Why he'd come back, what he was here for. But for the moment –

No. He'd let whoever was doing this think they were succeeding. Who knew what they'd to, or who they'd do it to, if he let on otherwise. He concentrated on feeling miserable; after a century or so of experience it wasn't hard.

"You can't live for eternity with all that pain," the spirit said after a second. "This is what you are. This is why we brought you back. Take her! And then you'll be ready . . . to kill her."

That had been one of his nightmares. But he now knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

The ghost continued its torture.

"I don't like the way that Willy guy was looking at us," Faith said.

"Neither do I," Buffy said. "But I think on him it's like breathing. He couldn't stop if he tried."

"Well, if you'd wanted him in traction he'd be there. So I won't waste my time." She grinned. "So, what do we do next? I mean, so far we got that they're hanging about underground."

"Not that much of a help in this town," Buffy said.

"True, that," Faith said. "Tell you what. I could go nose about, pounding a few more heads, see what I turn up?" She looked at Buffy for approval.

Now THERE was a switch. Faith looking to anyone for approval. "It'd be easier to win the lottery," Buffy said.

"Can't win if you don't play," Faith said teasingly.

Buffy shook her head. "If we have to, we will. But until then –"

"Gotcha. We wait."

"You have NO idea how great it is to spend Christmas not with my family," Xander said. "I wouldn't care if you were, fat, four feet tall and had an overbite the size of Hawaii, I'd still love you."

"Better had," Cordelia said as the two of them walked upstairs. "I expect eternal gratitude."

"Eternal?" Xander said. "I was hoping to get some sleep."

Cordelia laughed. "Boy, did you come to the wrong house."

Angel showed up in Buffy's bedroom during that night's Christmas prelims. He definitely seemed discombobulated, and after a few minutes of awkward conversation he left.

But it was a good leaving. Somehow, in the middle of all the confusion, pain and anguish, he said, "That dream we had -- we were making love, and I killed you – or tried to – and I don't want to do that. I can't."

And with that, she knew that he knew something was manipulating the situation – and that he couldn't say it flat out, probably because he was still seeing visions of some sort. The anguish didn't seem completely fake, but Buffy would have been willing to bet at least some of it was for show.

Still didn't mean there wasn't something in down that needed dealing with, and soon. Knowing that Angel wasn't going to come back and hurt her mother let her take Faith along with a clear conscience. Along the way, she explained things.

"Buffy? Faith?" Giles said when he opened his front door, "What –"

"Angel was at my house," Buffy said. "Acting all wiggy. But in the middle of his rant he made sure I knew about the dream we'd shared where the two of us had made love."

No fool, Giles caught on right away. "So he knows, too."

Faith clapped her hands. "So, what do we do now? Is it time for the asskicking yet?" Giles looked at her steadily. "Look, just because I'm doing my best to walk the straight and narrow doesn't mean I can't enjoy pounding something that calls for pounding. 'sides, whoever this is screwing with a friend of B's, which means they're screwing with her. And THAT means," she slammed her right fist into her left palm, "They're screwing with me. And if it screws with me, I hit it." Then, realizing how she sounded, she added, "After I figure out how, of course."

"Of course," Buffy said wryly. "So, you got anything on these guys?"

"Plenty," Giles said. "But as to how to find them –"

"Lottery sounding better and better, eh, B?"

"No," Buffy said. "And just because we've all figured out that there's someone pulling the strings doesn't mean we don't want to cut them as fast as possible."

"Right," Giles said. "Reading . . ."

Angel's verbal pummeling by whoever was masquerading as Jenny Calendar was almost over. "You were BORN to hurt her," the spirit said. "Have you learned nothing? As long as you're alive . . ."

Angel knew the reaction the spirit wanted. "Then I'll die."

After a pause: "You don't have the strength to kill yourself."

"I don't need strength," Angel said. "I need the sun."

He walked towards the mansion's front door; he could hear the spirit still talking behind him. "You're not supposed to die." He paused, and the spirit added, "But it'll do."

Then he left the mansion, more puzzled than ever.

This hadn't been about killing him?

Then . . . what?

Part 11

"So how do you know they're here?" Faith asked. Giles had found a reference in one of his books to "nothing growing above or below" where the Harbingers holed up. Buffy and Faith had come to the place where she and her mom had bought the Christmas tree.

"You'll see in a second," Buffy said as they wended their way through the trees.

Faith figured it out before Buffy told her. "Dead trees," she said admiringly. "Pretty slick, B."

"Every once in a while I pull one off," Buffy said. "Usually I leave the heavy thinking to the heavy thinkers, but –"

"Don't sell yourself short. You brought me back from the edge, after all." Buffy grabbed an axe from nearby and began chopping at the ground. After each blow, Faith stomped on the area, and on the third blow she almost fell into a hole.

Shortly after that they dropped underground, into what seemed to be part of a natural system of caverns. Moving quietly, they walked further into the cave.

Faith heard them first and pointed towards where, now that Buffy concentrated, she could also hear chanting. Within about a minute, they came across a chamber, with priests sitting around a table. "Whaddaya think, B?" Faith asked. "Is this a no chanting zone?"

And with that the fight was on; of course, it lasted about ten seconds, so maybe "massacre" is a better word. Buffy slammed the axe's handle into one priest's stomach, knocking him down, and then hit a second one in the head. Faith decked her opponent with one punch, and then they started to destroy the table and the collection of mystical goodies on it.

Suddenly, Jenny Calendar appeared in the room. "Hmmm. I'm impressed. And a little disappointed in you." She addressed the last comment to Faith.

"Huh?" Faith said. "Disappointed? Who the hell are –"

"Her name's Jenny Calendar," Buffy said. "Only . . . it isn't. Is it?"

"Perceptive," the not-Ms. Calendar said.

Buffy practically snarled, "You won't get Angel." Next to her, Faith seemed confused but more than ready to back whatever Buffy's play was.

And whatever it was said, "You think you can fight me? I'm not a demon and you're just a pair of little girls. I am something that you can't even conceive. The First Evil. Beyond sin, beyond death. I am the thing the darkness fears. You'll never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate."

Faith said scornfully, "Well, I'M impressed."

"You should be, girl. You should be well on the way to joining me."

"I know," Faith said and looked at Buffy. "I got better."

The First shook its head with mock sadness and looked at Buffy. "Angel will be dead by sunrise. Your Christmas . . .will be his wake."

"I don't believe you," Buffy said firmly.

Harshly, the First Evil said, "You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Let me guess," Buffy said sarcastically. "Is it . . . evil?"

And then the First, still wearing Jenny Calendar's form, almost imploded, and there was a huge beast. It roared and charged at the two Slayers; neither one moved. "DEAD BY SUNRISE!" the First shrieked.

Faith looked at Buffy. "How sure are you about your boy's sanity?"

Buffy sighed. "Not sure enough. Let's go."

They ran out of the cave.

Angel hadn't been at the mansion; with Faith there they'd finished the search in half the time. Then they'd moved on to the hills behind the mansion, where eventually they found him standing at the top of the highest hill.

"Angel," Buffy said.

Hearing her call his name, he walked over next to her. When he saw Faith he seemed a bit puzzled. "I wouldn't have thought –"

Faith grabbed Buffy's arm. "I didn't do it for you. I did it for B."

Buffy said to Angel, "Are you –"

"Okay?" he asked. "No. I'm not." He gestured down towards Sunnydale. "I bet half the kids down there are already awake. Lying in their beds, sneaking downstairs . . . waiting for day."

Buffy said, "You're not going to kill yourself. Not over this."

Angel closed his eyes. When he opened them he said, "No. I'm not. But I think the only reason I'm not . . . is that that creature, whatever it was, didn't mind seeing it happen." After a second, "No matter its plans . . . no matter its lies. It showed me what I am."

"It showed you what you WERE."

"And shall ever be," Angel said. "I've always been a killer. You know this."

Before Buffy answered, Faith said, "BULLSHIT." Both Buffy and Angel looked at her. "What the hell does it matter what you've been? Hell, for the last six months – ever since my Watcher bought it – I haven't exactly been the nicest person on the planet. I beat people, I robbed, I –"

"It's not the same thing," Angel said. "You went on a short crime spree. I killed people for over a hundred years." He paused. "And don't tell me it wasn't me, it was Angelus. We're the same person."

"No," Buffy said. "You're not."

"A vampire can only be what the person they were had the potential to be," Angel said. "And Liam – the man I was – was a worthless human being. Not fit to walk the earth. It's not the demon in me that needs killing. It's the man."

"You're not Liam any more. You're Angel."

Faith said, "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but aren't all vampires brutal, vicious killers?"

Angel said, "Yes."

"Then I don't get your problem. You could've been a saint when you were alive, or you could've been a stone killer, but soon as that demon took you over you were gonna start slaughtering people."

"What you did in the past – I can't say it doesn't matter," Buffy said. "Because it obviously does. But – what matters is what you do now. You have the power to do real good. To make amends. But if you let what the First did ruin you, ruin your future, then nothing matters and you might as well just stay out here."

"Sun's coming up," Faith noted. Slowly, they began walking to the mansion.

"Do you think this is simple?" Angel said. "You think there's an easy answer? You can never understand what I've done."

And Faith said quietly, "I can."

Angel stopped. "You really think so? You really think that almost killing ONE person is in any way the same as killing thousands?" Faith didn't answer. "Go ahead. Tell me what it's like."

"It's a feeling of power," Faith said. "It's the feeling that you have that you've just taken a life. There's a thrill about it, each and every time, knowing that you just held someone's life in your hands, and that you had the power to end it," she snapped her fingers, "Like that. No consequences. No remorse." Now it was Angel's turn to be silent.

Buffy looked at Faith, "I had no idea –"

"Sure you did, B," Faith said. "There's a rush we get whenever we kill a vampire or a demon. You told me you felt it, a little. Difference between you and me is, you never let it take control and I did. You want to know why I ran when I almost cut your mom? It wasn't just because I could've killed her; it was because a part of me was saying, 'Man, what a kick THAT would've been.' And who knows? Maybe I was gonna keep right on going until I DID kill someone. Until you pulled me back from the edge." She looked at Angel. "Yeah, you've done more than I did, a thousand times more. But tell me that's not the feeling."

Angel looked at her. "It is."

"Then let her pull you back too," Faith said. "I'm going to be working my tail off to make up for that feeling. You? You're a vampire. Still no reason you can't say the same thing."

They looked up at the lightening, though overcast, sky. "She's right," Buffy said. "I can't say it's not going be work. But it's got to be better than doing nothing, because you're afraid that by doing something you're going to do it wrong. Now come on, let's get inside."

They walked back into the mansion. It was an inexplicably chilly morning in Sunnydale.

But there was no snow.

It hadn't been necessary.

Part 12

Willow was in shock. "Faith convinced him?"

"Faith convinced him," Buffy said, and gave her a quick summary of what had happened on the hilltop; it was the same one she'd already given to Giles. "I think I could have done it, too, but the way she went about it – well, I'm not going to argue with what works. Angel seems a lot better now. No longer quite so likely to go for a mid-morning stroll."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but yay Faith."

"So, where were you and Oz during all this?" Buffy asked. The werewolf in question was on the Bronze's stage, although for once not as part of Dingoes; tonight the Bronze was hosting a guitarists' jam.

Reading Buffy's tone, Willow said, "Are you sure you're still not under Faith's influence?"

"No," Buffy said. "Actually, these days it seems to be almost the other way around."

"Really?" Willow asked.

"Really," Buffy said. "Faith's reformation seems genuine; I just wish she weren't pinning all her hopes on me quite so much. Still, if it helps, I'm willing to go along with it. But I draw the line at matching outfits." Willow laughed. "And don't think I didn't notice your little change of subject, missy."

"Oh. I was hoping there'd be, you know, the not noticing."

"Not so much," Buffy said.

"It's not what you think," Buffy said. "Not that I don't think Oz wants to, although, no pressure, this is Oz. And it's not that I don't want to either, it's just –"

"The guilt?"

"Eating me up from the inside like an angry tapeworm. It's gotten bad enough it's causing me actual stomach problems, and I can't go any further because of the ick factor."

"Well, you know what the cure for that is."

"Lots of Pepto-Bismol?" Willow asked hopefully. Buffy just glared, and a second later Willow said. "I know. It's just – it would destroy everyone at this point, you know?"

"Quite possibly. And since this is where I went on a three-week long temper tantrum, I think the conversation's just come to a screeching halt. Just – try to figure out how to deal with it?" She looked towards the door and motioned Xander and Cordelia over. "Xander sure seems to have managed."

"Yeah, I know," Willow said a little enviously. "It's like he doesn't even have a tapeworm."

"Tell me that was some kind of demon you were just talking about," Cordelia said. Then, in shock at her words, "Oh god. I can't believe I just said that."

Xander kissed her quickly and said, "It's Sunnydale, sweetie. You're acclimating."

"Anyway, no, the tapeworm thing was a complaint about the coffee," Willow said.

"Will, you're not drinking coffee."

"And thus the complaining. Be right back." She scurried away from the table.

"So," Xander said in disbelief. "FAITH convinced Angel?"

Buffy sighed and retold the story for the third time.

Angel's recovery from the depths of his despair wasn't rapid, but it was progressing nicely when the next major crisis hit. A demon who took the place of murdered children came to Sunnydale and inflamed the populace against witches, and only a frontal assault by Faith, Cordelia and Giles had saved Buffy and Willow from being burned to a crisp, and for that matter had saved Amy from turning herself into a rat.

During the fight, Faith had really impressed Buffy with her restraint. She was fighting humans, even if they were kind of possessed, and she acted like it. If any of them had more than bumps and bruises when it was all over, Buffy would have been very much surprised.

As they were hashing it out later, Willow told Amy, "It's, you know, maybe a good thing you didn't finish the spell. I'm not so sure I would have been able to reverse it. At least not right away. It might've taken me a while. Maybe even weeks."

Amy laughed as she got up to leave. "Well, it might have taken you one week, maybe, but two? You're better than that." She stopped. "Any time you want a little training, stop by. I know some people."

"I'll keep that in mind," Willow said. Then she said, "Hold on a second."

"Yes?"

"There's a spell I need you to cast for me . . ."

"Anything. What is it?"

"So, is he gone?" Trick asked.

The Mayor nodded. "Yes, indeedy. No more First." He chuckled. "For a while, anyway. He might decide to make a return appearance at some point. You know how these forces of evil are."

"At which point you'll be ready and able to take him on."

"God willing," the Mayor said. "Well, not God. You know what I mean."

"Less than a couple of weeks until your big ritual," Trick said. "Everything going hunky-dory in that department?"

"The early preparations are going swimmingly," the Mayor said. "I've appeased all the necessary demons and gotten rid of any other major distractions." He stood up. "And this is a slow time politically, too – barring any unforeseen murders."

"My boys'll keep you aware of anything bigger than a rogue vamp or two," Trick said. "You'll have to rely on that deputy mayor of yours to keep you clear of the political hassles."

"Not a political animal, Trick?"

"When I was human I wasn't even allowed to vote. Never got into the habit after that." After a second, "Is that all for the moment? I got a postal employee back at my hideout and she ain't gonna drain herself."

"Go ahead," the Mayor said. "We're pretty much in a holding pattern now anyway."

Trick left.

Buffy ran into Xander as they were both about to enter the library. "Do you know what this is about?" she asked.

"No. All I got was that it was urgent, and that I shouldn't bring Cordy."

Buffy frowned. "So it probably isn't some kind of demon." Willow gestured at them from Giles' office, and they walked inside. Willow was sitting down and Giles was leaning against the desk. Shooting Giles a quizzical look, Buffy was rewarded with a face that seemed to indicate that he was as much in the dark as they were.

After a few seconds of silence, Giles said, "Will anyone else be attending?"

"Um, no," Willow said. "Sit down. But then I'm the one who's sitting down and you're the ones who are standing, and maybe it's better this way." She took a deep breath. "Turns out those stomach problems I've been having weren't just guilt. And you were right, Buffy; We should have told Oz and Cordy a while back."

Xander, Buffy and Giles looked at each other, and Buffy said, "Will, we've already been through all this –"

"Not like this we haven't." She looked ready to pass out.

"Willow," Xander said. "Relax. Whatever it is, we'll get through it."

"Good choice of pronouns." She took another deep breath, then another, and said, more calmly, "I've missed my last two periods."

Xander looked confused. "So just tell your teachers. I'm sure they'll –"

Then he felt Buffy's hand on his arm. He looked over at her, and she was shaking her head. "That's not what she means."

"Good lord," Giles said. "Are you certain?"

Willow nodded. "I did it the usual way through the store, and I even had Amy cast a spell. There's no way they're both wrong."

"I'm still not getting it," Xander said.

"Xander," Willow said. "I'm pregnant."

Elsewhere in town, a woman stepped out of a cab in a not particularly nice part of town. "You sure you want to get off here?" the cabbie asked. "This ain't the best neighborhood, and it ain't the best time of night, either."

"Oh, I think this is just the right time to be in Sunnydale," Anyanka said.

Part 13

"Does Oz know?" Giles asked.

Buffy looked at Willow. "They don't know that half of the equation, do they?"

Willow said, "Um, not so much."

Xander, whose expression had changed from confused to outraged to sympathetic and back to confused, all in the span of five seconds, said, "What half of the equation?"

Willow took a deep breath. "The one where I've never slept with Oz."

Now Xander finally figured it out and did what seemed like the most productive thing he could do under the circumstances.

He fainted.

When they revived him, the first words out of his mouth were the predictable, "But it was just that once!"

"Once was enough, apparently," Giles said. Then, to Willow: "Does anyone else know?"

"Like who?"

"Your parents, for one."

"Oh sure," Willow said a touch scornfully. "Tell Ira Rosenberg that his only daughter went and got herself knocked up. And my mother, she, well, you know how clueless she is. You're the first people I've told."

"And the only people, right, Will?" Xander asked.

"Xander –" Buffy said, exasperated. "It's over."

"No," Xander said desperately. "It isn't."

"Has it occurred to you how extraordinarily selfish you're being right now?" Giles asked. "Willow is pregnant, and all you seem to give a damn about is how it affects your relationship with Cordelia."

Buffy mouthed a silent "thank you" to her Watcher.

Xander looked at Willow. "Will – look. You know you don't need to worry about any of the parenting stuff. Whatever I can do, whatever you need me to do, I'll do it, and whatever you want to do, I'm with you. I might be an asshole sometimes, but I don't bail."

"I know," Willow said.

"It's just that – well, things ARE going well with Cordy right now. And I don't want to hurt her with this." He sighed.

"Too late for that now," Buffy said. "And I hate to be a stick about all this, but I really DID tell you so."

Xander simply glared at her. Buffy returned the glare, which was matched by one from Giles.

"Okay," he said. "Just – let me do it at my own speed?"

"I'm going to tell Oz tonight," Willow said. "So your own speed had better be pretty fast, mister."

"Aye-aye, Captain," Xander sighed.

Anyanka said with a self-satisfied air, "Oh yes. They're very ripe here . . ."

"Oz!"

"Willow. Just the person I've been looking for."

"How come?"

"Because I'm always looking for you." He hugged her.

"Awww."

"I didn't see you last period. Not like you to miss a class like that."

"Meeting with Giles, Buffy and Xander in the library." They walked into an empty classroom.

"Evil brewing?" Oz asked with some concern.

"No. Not this time. But –"

"Yes?"

"But there is a problem. It – it dates back all the way to when Spike kidnapped us. Me and Xander, I mean, not me and you."

"What?"

"This is hard to say."

"You know, whatever it is, with me, you can say it."

Willow closed her eyes. "I'm pregnant." There was no answer. "Oz?"

And, to Willow's amazement, Oz actually seemed to be trying to control anger. "You and I have never –"

"No, we haven't," Willow said.

"I'll kill him," Oz said coldly, fists clenched.

"Oz –"

"I don't know where he is, I don't care, but I'll find him, and I'll kill him," Oz said, moving to the door. When he stopped, he said, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"We didn't want to upset you –"

"Didn't work," Oz said, and left.

It was moments later when Willow followed him into the hall, but he was gone.

"He just took off," Willow said. "I didn't get a chance to explain, or apologize, or anything." Once again they were at the Bronze. Faith was out on the dance floor; she and Buffy were going to run a patrol later on. Right now she was busy tormenting Oz's bandmate Devon. (And tormenting was all she'd be doing; ever since the rescue, Faith had walked the straight and narrow where guys were concerned too. It was look, it was even touch, but it was don't-go-any-further.)

By common consent no one had told her yet, though Buffy said she'd promised Faith she wouldn't lie about important things, so she'd need to explain the situation eventually.

Xander didn't like this; he didn't like it at all. Why did things need to move so fast?

"Doesn't sound much like Oz," Buffy said.

"You kidding?" Xander said nervously. "Last year during the love spell fiasco he decked me just because I'd UPSET Willow. What do you think he'll do now?"

Buffy said, "You know him; he's Joe Cool. He probably just needed some time to digest all of it so he could respond rationally. He's not used to getting angry."

"Oh, but you should have seen him," Willow said. "He sounded like he was ready to strangle someone."

"Not helping," Xander said.

"You told Cordelia yet?" Buffy asked.

Xander looked at her. If this were football, there'd be a penalty for piling on. "No. I told her to meet me here and then I'd take her someplace private and we'd talk."

Willow asked, "You're going to tell her the truth, right?"

"The whole, and nothing but," Xander said.

"So you're going to take her outside? Not really safe –"

"Yeah, I'm hoping maybe a vampire'll come along and put me out of my misery before I actually have to confess." Then, more seriously: "Also, there's Cordy's rep. I don't want to do this where just anyone can overhear and go blabbing. She's gonna be hurt enough as it is."

Conversation was trivial for the few minutes until Cordy showed up, and then it was, reluctantly, showtime.

A couple of minutes after Xander and Cordelia left the Bronze, Faith jogged up to the table. "Hey, B," she said. "Why didn't you tell me that Spike was back in town?"

Faith had never run into Spike, but Buffy'd explained about him. "News to me," Buffy said. "Where'd you hear about it?"

Pointing to the dance floor, Faith indicated Devon. "Pretty-but-dumb over there told me he'd seen Oz furious about Spike and something he'd done to Willow."

Buffy and Willow exchanged horrified looks.

When after ten minutes Xander hadn't said anything, Cordelia said, "Don't get me wrong. I like long walks at night when vampires can leap out from behind any old bush and drain me dry as much as the next total moron. But I kind of thought you brought me out here for a reason."

"I did." Xander put his hand on Cordy's arm and they both stopped. "This is hard." Possibly the hardest thing he'd ever done, in fact.

"Well, spit it out," Cordelia said. "If it's the truth, you know you can tell me."

Taking a deep breath, Xander said, "You remember when Willow and I were kidnapped –"

"What's that?"

"Kidnapped by Spike, and –"

"Shush, nimrod!" Xander stopped talking. "Listen." And sure enough, there were sounds of a fight in the background. Carefully but quickly, they both ran towards it.

Rounding a corner, they saw Oz battling a trio of vampires halfway down the block, and actually holding his own. Either his werewolfhood was giving him some help, or his anger was.

As they ran to help, Xander caught some of what Oz was saying. It seemed to be about Spike. That made no sense.

Oz staked one vampire, but one of the other ones had him in a chokehold when help that wasn't Xander and Cordy showed up. Out of seemingly nowhere – one of his specialties – Angel plowed into the combat, throwing the second vampire to the ground practically at Xander's feet, and ripping the other one off Oz.

Xander bent down and staked the one on the ground before he and Cordy ran up to Oz. Angel was about to kill the third and final vampire when Oz gasped out, "No."

Angel stopped. "Why?"

"Because," Oz said calmly. "I want to know where Spike went to. Because I'm going to track him down and kill him."

The vampire just looked confused. So did Angel, for that matter. "Killing Spike would be a boon to all mankind, but what got you in the mood to do it now?" The vampire in his grasp struggled; Angel punched him a few times until he stopped.

"He raped Willow," Oz said. "I should have known something – the way she smelled –"

"He what?" Angel and Cordelia said simultaneously.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Cordelia asked Xander.

He didn't answer. He COULDN'T answer.

"How did you find out?" Angel asked quietly.

Oz looked at them. "Because she's pregnant, and she and I have never had sex."

The look of confusion returned to Angel's face. "No," he said. "Vampires can't – we can't impregnate. It's impossible for us to father or bear children."

The next scenes played through in slow motion for Xander.

Oz looked at him, awareness dawning.

Angel did the same, a second later.

Cordelia said, "Wait, what –"

"It's why I smelled them all over each other," Oz said. "Because they'd just had sex. That's Xander's child Willow's carrying. Isn't it." It wasn't a question.

Looking at Xander, Cordelia said, "No. Tell me this isn't true."

"I can't."

Cordelia's face was a mask of pain, rather than anger. She turned and ran.

Angel quickly staked the vampire he was holding and ran after her, saying, "I'd better make sure she stays safe."

Which left Xander looking at Oz. "Oz – man – I –"

"Get out of here," Oz said.

"It's, I –"

"Let me put it this way," Oz said coldly. He gestured at the world in general. "There are hundreds of vampires and demons out there. Most of them would kill you if they got the chance. Now look in my eyes and tell me. Are you safer with me or them?"

Dejectedly, Xander walked back to the Bronze.

Anyanka looked up. "NOW they're ready," she said.

Part 14

"If I were you," Cordelia said, "I'd go away." She'd run, not quite blindly, but she'd still ended up in a graveyard.

"I'm not going anywhere when you're walking through cemeteries," Angel said. "We might not be best friends –"

Cordelia stopped, turned to face Angel, and laughed bitterly. "Best friends? Do I have ANY friends at all? Did you know about this?"

"I didn't know Willow was pregnant," Angel said, obviously trying to avoid fully answering the question.

Unfortunately for him, Cordelia was a living lie detector. Sharply, she asked, "But you knew about the other part? That they were sleeping together?"

And THAT question Angel couldn't evade. "It was only the once. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, well, you should know all about how dangerous having sex ONCE can be."

Angel held up his hands. "Look. I'm not trying to say you shouldn't be angry –"

"Damn good thing," Cordelia muttered.

"I'm just saying you should vent your fury somewhere where you're not likely to get attacked by vampires."

Cordelia opened her mouth, but before she could answer, someone – or thing? – picked up Angel and threw him against a nearby mausoleum. His head struck just below the name "Alpert," and he slid to the ground, unconscious.

As Cordelia backed up, the woman who'd done it looked at her and said, "Men!"

"Who – who are you?" Cordelia asked.

"My name's Anyanka. You and I need to talk."

Since they didn't want to have a big personal discussion in the middle of the Bronze, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Faith had relocated to Buffy's house. They'd filled Faith in on the way.

Buffy had been a little worried that the revelations of the evening would – well – damage Faith's resolve to reform.

When she'd nervously mentioned this to the other slayer, Faith had clapped her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, B," she'd said. "I don't like people keeping the important stuff from me, but this was all personal stuff. None of my business until it DID hit the fan."

Unfortunately, once they got there, there wasn't anything they could do except sit around and wonder how they could have handled it better. (Under the circumstances, Buffy refrained from any more I-told-you-sos.) Oz wasn't answering his phone, and Devon had no idea where his bandmate was. They couldn't reach Cordelia either.

So, while Faith went out to patrol, all they could do, really, was sit and wait.

"I know you," Cordelia said. "You're that vengeance demon."

"That's right," Anyanka said. "And I'm here to grant you vengeance. I'm sure you can think of a few nasty things you'd like to do to that ex-boyfriend of yours."

"Damn right," Cordelia said.

"Well, I'm just the girl who can do it for you. You make a wish, I'll grant it."

Cordelia had a few choice wishes in mind. "I think I can come up with a few."

Anyanka put her hand over Cordelia's mouth. "No wishing yet. I need you to do me a favor, first."

"A favor?"

"Yeah. See, the last time I was in this little hellhole of a town – no offense –"

"None taken," Cordelia said, beginning to wonder exactly why she was humoring the demon. If she wanted vengeance on Xander and Willow, she was fully capable of doing it herself.

"Good. Anyway, last time I was here those two Slayers tried to kill me."

"I remember," Cordelia said. "I didn't have anything to do with that, you know."

"All I want," Anyanka said, "Is for you to call them for me."

"Why?"

"So I can get MY vengeance."

Cordelia thought for a second and then made a production of shrugging. "Sure. Let's go find a phone."

Buffy put the phone down. "That was Cordelia," she said.

Anxiously, Xander asked, "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, though she wants to kill all of us," Buffy said.

"I'm not surprised," Willow said.

"But that's not why she called. She wants me to meet her somewhere." After a second, "I think it's a trap."

"You think so?" Willow asked. "Mad as she is, I don't think she'd –"

Shaking her head, Buffy said, "She's not the one setting it."

"How do you know it's a trap at all?" Xander said.

"She said so. She sounded muffled, but she said so."

Buffy woke up chained to the walls in a cave. Cordelia was sitting on the floor next to her. She remembered walking towards the park where the trap had been set, and then –

Anyanka walked in front of her. "Good. You're awake." She was in her human form.

"I hadn't realized you cared about my health and well-being," Buffy said.

"Oh, I don't. I just want you to be awake when I crush your windpipe." She stopped for a second. "Or maybe I'll break your back. One vertebra at a time. I haven't decided yet."

"Why just not wish me in severe pain?" Buffy asked scornfully. "Would that ruin your fun?"

"Oh no. That would be fun," she said brightly. "But I can't do my own wishing." Buffy glared down at Cordelia. Anyanka snorted. "Right. Like she'd help."

"She helped get me down here," Buffy said.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Cordelia said. "Well, okay, I did, but I didn't know this was going to happen."

Anyanka said, "I did. I had you pegged for some kind of clever vengeance that wouldn't really hurt the people involved. So I figured you wouldn't let me kill her; so I took that into account. I'm 1100 years old; give me some credit for knowing how to do my job." She walked away for a second, apparently deep in thought. "Now then. Your slow, painful death. How to go about it. I could break every bone in your body, one by one; I could drive nails into your . . ."

Meanwhile, Buffy mouthed to Cordelia, "Get the necklace. Smash the stone."

Cordelia understood; Anyanka hadn't tied her up or anything, seemingly figuring that as long as the Slayer was in chains there wouldn't be anything to worry about from a mere human.

And so she made the same mistake so many other people did: Underestimating Cordelia Chase.

When she turned back around, Anyanka had taken on her demon form. "And now –"

But the demon didn't finish the sentence. Cordelia reached up, ripped the necklace from Anyanka's throat, took a rock from the cave floor, and smashed it, in one reasonably smooth motion.

There was a flash of energy and all of a sudden Anyanka was in her human form again. "You IDIOT!" she shrieked. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"I have some idea," Cordelia said, standing up. "I smashed your stone. You're human again." She ripped a set of keys from the now-ex-demon's belt area.

Buffy said, "You lost, Anyanka. Deal with it."

"I will get my necklace back, and then you'll all PAY," she said melodramatically as she stormed out of the cave.

"Nicely done, Cordy," Buffy said.

"I'd better hurry up and get you out of those," she said, "Before I remember that I'm royally pissed at you and decide to leave you here for vampires to feed on." She unlocked the chains.

"Whatever, I'm just glad you didn't decide to go along with her idea of vengeance."

"I was tempted," Cordelia said seriously. "I was. But Sunnydale needs the Slayer, and I don't want you dead. But don't think this means we're friends, because we're not. And given how you all treated me, I don't think we ever were."

"Cordy –"

"No. You don't get any time for explanations. I paid back whatever I owed you by helping you not die back there." She shook her head. "You lied to me. You lied to Oz."

Softly, Buffy said, "It wasn't my call."

"It sure as hell should have been."

There wasn't anything else to say. Buffy made sure Cordelia got home safely, caught up with Faith, and helped Angel back to the mansion on Crawford Street to recover from his concussion.

Then, having absolutely nothing ele to do, she went home.

The next day, it was time for Cordelia to set her own revenge plan in motion. One that didn't involve anyone getting killed, or even maimed.

And she didn't need magic to get it done; she didn't need a wishing necklace, superpowers, Slayer strength, a lot of books, or the ability to turn into a big dog three days a month.

All she needed was the truth.

It was all she'd ever needed – all she'd ever asked for. And the man she'd loved hadn't loved her enough in return to tell it to her. And her so-called friends hadn't cared enough to tell it to her.

So now it was her turn. That day, everyone heard the truth.

When the final been rang, half the student body was screaming at the other half, when they weren't busy venting at Buffy, Willow, or Xander. Oz, she exempted; he'd been screwed by Xander and Willow's little tryst as much as she had. She also didn't let Buffy's precious Slayerhood out of the closet.

Everything else was fair game.

And as she stood there and watched the carnage, she laughed. Telling the truth was fun.

For her, anyway.

As she backed away, she noticed a demon standing next to her and yelped.

"Easy," the demon said. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"I've seen enough around here to make me NOT believe that," Cordelia said.

"If I wanted to –" he set a nearby bush on fire – "don't you think I already would have?"

Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Good point," she said.

The demon gestured to the group yelling at each other. "Impressive work."

"Thanks," she said.

"How did you do it?"

"All I did was tell the truth."

The demon started. "No magic was involved?"

"None whatsoever."

"You have quite a talent for . . . vengeance," the demon said.

"I do my best," Cordelia said.

"Would you be looking for a job? Because I have one available."

"This would be a job like Anyanka's? Because I like my skin the way it is, thanks."

D'Hoffryn shrugged. "You don't need to take demon form. Some of us prefer it, but if you'd rather not, that could be arranged."

"Also, I'm not into all this violence. Revenge is fine, but I'm not out for blood."

"I understand."

"And could we make the stone not a necklace? Because, you know, I think Buffy and them would kind of notice."

"I'll do what I can." After a second, "So, I take it you're interested?"

"Damn straight," Cordelia said. Then she had a thought. "Hold on a second. Would I have to stick to going after unfaithful men? Because I can think of someone else I'd rather take vengeance on."

"We choose our own specialties. What would yours be?"

"Liars."

D'Hoffryn extended a hand. "Welcome to the fold, my dear."

Part 15

Faith didn't like being lied to, either. She'd been lied to and used by people most of her life, so she got the pissed. Until B had thought she was worth saving, the pissed was what had been driving her most of her life.

So she'd gotten Cordelia's need to get back at the people she thought had screwed her.

It hadn't been a fun day – she'd spent most of it breaking up fights. Admittedly, ever since, she'd barely seen the girl; it was like she appeared right as school started and vanished as soon as it was over. But still, there had been problems. Now if she'd thought this had been some kind of magic or demon, she'd've been on it in a flash. But this? This she couldn't really have fought.

So she'd ridden it out. Sometimes, she had to be patient. A hard lesson, yeah, especially for someone like her who'd always been into want-take-have, but she was getting it.

Thanks to B.

And yeah, thanks to Giles and Joyce, too. Joyce, especially, for going above and beyond; she'd nearly stuck a knife through the woman's ribs, and here she'd gone and given her a place to stay. Training, sure, that could be a bit of a bitch; she'd never needed much beyond her natural talents. But Giles had showed her how to use swords, and crossbows, and how restraining herself just a little instead of cutting loose made it a lot less likely one of the damn vamps would end up using her head for a bowling ball.

She liked that.

And B's friends had been fine, too; she felt like she was one of the gang. Like she belonged. She wasn't going to say it was like family, because her family'd sucked – though really, not many of the people's around here were any better, near as she could tell.

But it all came back to B.

Faith wasn't much given for all that shrinky-dink stuff the psychiatrists did, but if she thought about it, what she'd been waiting for all her life was a rescue. Someone to come along and tell her she was worth the effort.

And that had been B.

That's why she was on her mission now: Tomorrow was B's birthday, and since she'd sworn off B&E that meant she had to go out and buy the presents honestly.

Her problem there had been a lack of ready cash. She'd done her best not to cost Joyce and them anything beyond bed and board, but she'd run out of her own funds a while back, and –

"Relax, Faith," Joyce had said. "I'll give you $20 so you can buy her the present." Then she'd frowned. "How do you normally get money? I mean, you don't have a job –"

"If I think of it," Faith had said, "I try to mug some of the vamps before I kill 'em."

"Faith—" Joyce had said a little disapprovingly.

"What, it's okay to kill 'em but I can't heist their wallets?"

At that, Joyce had laughed and given her the money.

Now, Faith's problem was how to say "Thanks for saving my life" in twenty dollars or less. Somehow she figured a sweater just wouldn't cut it.

Cutting it. Some kind of knife or something? B had that stake as her good luck charm – Mr. Pointy, the one that the Slayer before her had owned – but most of the rest of her stuff was borrowed from Giles. And no offense to the Watcher-man, dude knew his stuff when it came to how to use the things, but he wasn't really picky about the fashion sense. Maybe B'd appreciate a high-quality blade.

So she decided to go bounce the idea off Giles to see what he thought. He and B were holed up right now doing some kind of training on the types of crystals; weird thing was, when Faith'd said maybe she should learn the same things – wasn't her strong suit, but she was trying, just like she was doing with all that damn schoolwork – Giles had told her definitely not, that she wouldn't be ready for a year or so.

Hadn't made sense, but if she got a night off from studying, sure as shit she wasn't going to go bitching about it.

She stopped for a second outside the library doors, but she didn't hear anyone talking. She walked in –

Giles was injecting B with something. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

"Um," he said, pulling out the needle. "It's nothing, it's just –" He straightened up. "I thought I told you tonight was none of your concern." He bent to put the needle away.

"Yeah, I can see why." She walked across the room and snatched the needle from his hand. "What is this?"

"It is an integral part of Buffy's training – you're hurting my wrist."

Faith looked over at B – she hadn't moved during the injection and wasn't moving now. All she was doing was staring into the crystal. "Yeah, well, if it's so INTEGRAL," Faith said, "Why'd you have to trance her up to stick it in?" She didn't let go of his wrist.

"I assure you—"

She ignored him. "'cause the way I figure it is this," Faith said. "Either you've been possessed, or you're not the real Giles. Either way I got a real good excuse to knock you out unless you give me a reason not to."

"Could you – at least – let go of my wrist? It's kind of – hard – to think coherently – through the pain."

Faith let him go, but shoved him down in a chair and kicked his briefcase away. "Start talking."

His eyes defeated, Giles began to explain.

Apparently this was part of some ritual called "crooshamentum." Faith was sure she wasn't spelling it right in her head but really didn't care. Anyway, any Slayer who hit the big one-eight went through this thing, which sounded real sleazy to Faith. Take B's powers away, stick her in a building with a vamp and see if she can kill it.

"And if she can't?"

"She winds up dead."

Faith shook her head. "And I thought you liked B. I thought you gave a damn about her."

A bit of anger creeping into his voice, Giles said, "I do. I think this is a pointless, stupid game that gets good Slayers killed before their time that should have been stopped in the Dark Ages. But this wasn't my decision."

"Funny," Faith said, "I don't see anyone around holding a gun to your head."

"Not literally, no," Giles said. "But the Council is in Sunnydale to judge Buffy's performance – and to set up this 'arena' where this absurd trial by combat is supposed to take place."

"And if you told them to take this crooshamentum and stick it up their asses, they'd what? Cut your throat?"

Giles looked up at her. "In a very real sense, yes. They could decide I wasn't an appropriate Watcher for Buffy – or you, for that matter – and remove her from my charge. They might put her in the hands of someone whose SOLE goal was to destroy evil; someone who didn't give a damn about her personal life. Not that I think you or Buffy would go along with this, but it could make life difficult."

"You don't need them," Faith said.

Irritably, Giles gestured at the books around her. "Do you think these items paid for themselves? Do you think they're ALL I need when I look up various demons? The Council provides resources that I – that we – simply don't have."

"Still doesn't give them the right to behave like a bunch of – what's the word? – micromanaging pricks."

"Indeed, it does not," Giles said. "Unfortunately, they're the ones holding all the cards."

"Then what we got to do is change the game."

"Be my guest," Giles said. "Don't you think I've been racking my brains trying to figure a way out of this?"

Faith looked at him. Damn, but the guy was sincere. Still didn't mean she wasn't royally pissed, but he really hadn't wanted to do any of this, and he did want a way out. "Maybe you're thinking too hard."

"Do you have an idea?"

"I just might. All you have to do is tell me where this trial's supposed to happen and when. I'll take care of the rest."

Giles told her.

Over at the table, B was starting to stir. Faith took the empty needle still in her hand and stuck it in her jacket pocket. She said quickly, "So, you think a nice knife'll do it?"

"Huh?" Giles said.

"For B's birthday present," she said.

"Oh – yes," Giles said, catching on. "That should do –"

"Birthday present?" B said, yawning and stretching. "Did I fall asleep? Hey, Faith. How'd the patrolling go?"

"Not much so far," Faith said. "About to head back out. Wanna come with?"

"Sure – if that's okay with you, Giles – I mean, did I learn what I needed to?"

Giles said, "I couldn't possibly object. And don't worry, Buffy. If you fell asleep, I'm sure you had – good reason."

Faith and Buffy left the library together. Faith had told Giles she had an idea about how to fix all this.

Now all she had to do was come up with it.

Part 16

Angel was sitting on his couch reading a book when he heard a loud pounding on his door, followed by the door being opened quickly. He jumped to his feet, but relaxed when he heard Faith's voice yell out, "Yo, vamp-boy! You in?"

"In here?"

"You decent?"

Angel blinked. "I wouldn't think that would matter –"

"It wouldn't, normally, but you got this thing going with B and I've kind of taken up this hobby lately of not messing with other women's guys." She walked into the room, rightly taking Angel's return question as an invitation in.

"Buffy and I don't have a thing –"

"Heard it before, didn't believe it the first time." She seemed tense and irritated, though not at him. "We can hash out your love life later. We got a situation. Earlier tonight – when B and I were out patrolling – we split up for a bit – she fought a vamp. Nearly got killed because she suddenly got dizzy; vamp came within a few seconds, I know it. Helped her kill it, got her home, told her I was going to go on one more hunt and beelined to you."

"Is she sick?" He knew it was a dumb question the moment he said it. If all Buffy'd had was a case of the flu, Faith wouldn't have sprinted to the mansion.

Faith shook her head. "No. I wish she was sick." Then she explained what she'd seen earlier that night. During her description, Angel felt his fists clench several times.

Once she was done, Angel said, "You really have changed. I'm amazed you didn't just haul off and hit him."

"Saving my energy for the people responsible," Faith said. "I really believe Giles when he says he didn't want to do this. Wish he'd had the stones to actually not."

"You didn't tell Buffy any of this." It wasn't a question.

"No. Not going to, or anyone else either. Too much else going on for them." She didn't need to explain; after Angel had gotten knocked cold by Anyanka a week or so back he'd gotten the whole story from Buffy. "Let me rephrase: Not going to tell her unless I have to. No need to screw with her trust unless there's no choice."

"When's the test scheduled for?" Faith had already told him where.

"Two nights from now. After B's good and weak." She practically spat the last sentence. "I told Giles I had a plan to cover his ass and save B's, but I didn't. Worst came to worst I was just gonna go over and clean house. You know? Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out?"

Angel had no doubts she could do it, too. "Not a good idea."

Faith grinned. "Too subtle?"

Angel smiled briefly, then said, "Okay. First thing we need to do is make sure if she goes out again that one of us is always with her."

"I'm with you there." She said. ""least tomorrow night won't be a problem. B's dad's taking her to some ice skating show down in L.A."

"That's good. You done sweeping the area?" Faith said she was. "Good. Get home, keep an eye on things. I'm heading over to that building to see what I can see. Some point tomorrow night while Buffy's at the ice show we'll figure out what to do next."

"Gotcha." Then, grimly. "If we can't figure out something, no way she's going through that thing. That's a damn guarantee."

"No question."

And they went their separate ways: Faith home, Angel to spy on a group of complete bastards.

Otherwise known as the Watcher's Council.

The building they were holing up in turned out to be an abandoned boardinghouse called "The Sunnydale Arms." There were plenty of small rooms and back passages for a powerless Slayer to get herself trapped and killed in. As far as Angel could tell, there only seemed to be three Watchers there – along with whatever vampire was supposed to "test" Buffy, of course.

They'd likely have whatever was necessary to keep him in check, but still, if it came down to it, he and Faith should be able to take on whoever was in the house.

One of the Watchers – the oldest, least fit of them – emerged and drove off. Of course, Angel thought cynically. He must be the one in charge. Angel would have bet that the driver was going to end up in one of Sunnydale's nicest hotels.

Since the odds were now two to one, Angel decided to give the erstwhile arena a closer look. By going over the rooftops, he had no problem swinging down and through an upper-level window. The building hadn't been abandoned for long enough for him to worry about crashing though the floorboards, but he still landed as lightly as he could; no point clueing in the idiots downstairs.

He crept down the steps, noting the scattered brooks and mostly broken furniture. The vampire was in a medium-sized room in a thick, heavy crate and apparently chained or otherwise bound, because the door was wide open.

One of the two men was asleep on a cot in a room Angel had passed; the other one was holding a glass of water at the end of a long pole. "Hold it in your mouth, Kralik, or you'll have to swallow them dry." After a few seconds he picked up a second stick with a spoon at the end and stuck that into the crate as well. Angel would have bet it was some kind of medicine.

He'd heard of this guy. Crazy, destructive vampire; true, that covered most of them, but Kralik topped that. His full name was Zachary Kralik; he'd been a serial killer when he was alive. Dead, he was an even more efficient and vicious murderer. For sheer depravity the man rivaled the infamous Lyle Gorch.

This changed things. Buffy might have had trouble taking on Kralik at full strength; as it was, she'd be a newborn gazelle to his leopard. Angel crept back into the Watchers' bunkroom; a quick punch to the base of the skull ensured that the sleeping man would stay that way for several more hours.

Back in the main room, the remaining Watcher had closed the crate, locked it, and taken a seat. Angel waited five minutes for him to get good and absorbed in the book, then grabbed a nearby piece of debris and tossed it over the crate towards the far wall.

The Watcher's head shot up instantly; he grabbed a weapon of some sort from a nearby bag and took a couple of steps towards where the sound had come from. That was all the opening Angel got, but fortunately it was all he needed.

Tensed as he was, the man hadn't been expecting an attack, at least not from the direction Angel came. And while he might have been well-equipped to handle a heavily restrained psychopath, he wasn't nearly in Angel's league when it came to combat. It could have been a slaughter, if Angel had been so inclined.

As it was, he had something more specific and a lot less bloody in mind. Not giving the Watcher a chance to turn around, he shifted into his vampire form and slammed the man into the wall. "Quit struggling," Angel hissed. "Or you'll only die faster." Then he called out, trying to sound pompous, "My brother in the crate! I will free you shortly!" He ripped the man's shirt and tied him up with it, blindfolding him as well. Then he forced the crate open. Kralik was being restrained by a very heavy straitjacket. Angel shook his head sadly. "My brother," he said. "What have they done to you?"

"Tied me up like an animal," Kralik said. "Stopped me from killing."

"That truly –" he stopped, and pretended to hear a sound. "What was that?"

Kralik growled, "I didn't hear anything."

"Best to be safe," Angel said. He kicked the Watcher angrily and said, "Don't do this again. Vampires were meant to be free." Then he hefted Kralik over his shoulder and ran out the back door of the place, not stopping until he was well clear of the place.

"Well?" Kralik said. "What are you waiting for? Untie me."

Angel said, "I don't think so," and staked him.

With any luck, Buffy's problems would end there.

If not – well, he and Faith would be ready.

"This changes things," Quentin Travers said. He and Giles were standing in the library the next morning.

"Damn right it does," Giles said. "I'd say the cruciamentum is off, wouldn't you?" He'd been as stunned as Travers to learn of the invasion of their arena – until he'd gotten the phone call from Angel later that night explaining what had happened.

"Certainly not," Travers said. "It's a required rite of passage –"

"How the bloody hell can you stand there and tell me you have the right to test the Slayer when you can't even control the testing ground?"

"A point," Travers said. "Still –-" he looked at Giles suspiciously. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

Giles chose to interpret the question loosely. "I give you my oath as a Watcher that I neither participated in the 'liberation' of Mr. Kralik nor in the planning of same," he said.

Frowning, Travers said, "I suppose I'm forced to believe you."

"And by the time you get a suitable replacement, it will be well past Buffy's eighteenth birthday."

Travers regarded him uneasily. "And your point is?"

"Well, since you seem to set such store by these archaic, absurd rituals, the time for the cruciamentum is the Slayer's eighteenth birthday. Not six days, six weeks, or six months past." Travers said nothing. "Oh, bloody hell, Buffy's long since proven her worth. You know this. So do I."

Travers nodded his head. "Very well. But there is a condition."

"What condition?" Giles asked dubiously.

"Since we were unable to complete the Slayer's testing, and since I am still firmly of the belief that you are too close to the situation to be a proper observer, I will be sending a novice Watcher along to analyze things. Your relationship with this Slayer – and the other one. And possibly whether either or both should be removed from your charge and given over to others."

"Very well," Giles said, though he wasn't happy about it.

"You can expect him within a few weeks," Travers said. "And on that note –" They said their farewells.

Giles should have been happier than he was. Buffy hadn't had to undergo the cruciamentum and his own complicity in weakening her hadn't been made public.

But he'd still betrayed her.

That would be very hard to live with.

Part 17

Actually, Cordelia HAD taken a demon form – if nothing else, it made it easier to scare the living hell out of her targets. But she only adopted it when she had to.

Right now, for instance, would have been a bad time. She was sitting in a bookstore in Baltimore, talking to the man sitting next to her on the couch. (Teleportation was a lot of fun. Too bad she couldn't carry anything with her except the clothes on her back; that killed any shopping trips to New York or Paris. Grrr.)

This guy --- his name was Borden -- he'd just found out that the woman he'd married because she was pregnant had lied about who the father of her baby was. (Borden had thought it was him. Nuh-uh.)

"—and now – and now Vicki's telling me it doesn't matter that she lied to me; if I try to divorce her she'll take me to the cleaners for child support, because I told everyone Kelly was my daughter. She's damn near taunting me about it now, telling me she'll never go away."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Cordelia said. "Pisses the hell out of you, doesn't it?"

"Sure does," Borden said. "Got nothing against Kelly, now; she's a good kid. Not her fault her mother's a lying shit. You know, sometimes I wish that woman would just get lost!"

The ring glowed. "You got it," Cordelia said.

A few minutes later, she extricated herself from the conservation and teleported back to Sunnydale. As for Vicki, she was now somewhere on a godforsaken island thousands of miles away.

In a few days Cordelia would teleport onto that island in her demon form and say, "This is what happens when you lie."

And the woman would promise to never, ever lie again, and not long after she'd be rescued.

One by one . . . the world was learning.

Fortunately for Rupert Giles' mental state, the next apocalypse came around with astonishing rapidity not a week after Buffy's birthday. This time around it was a group of female demons who worshipped the concept of the end of the world.

After the attack, they'd all come to the conclusion that this one was probably too dangerous for Willow – given her condition -- and so they'd kind of informally agreed to keep her out of the rest of the loop until armageddon had come and gone. Or simply come, in which event the whole matter was moot. The magical assistance they needed they would get from Amy Madison.

They also considered keeping Xander out of things – he'd been depressed for weeks, ever since the secret had gotten out, but with their ranks already thinned they couldn't afford to lose him. Besides, Giles reflected, perhaps throwing himself into a battle would be good for the boy; shake him out of his doldrums.

So late the next day, Giles and Buffy were discussing them after having carefully made sure Willow was nowhere in sight. After a few minutes, Oz walked in. The young man nodded almost imperceptibly and said, "Hey."

Buffy said, "Hey. Oz." Giles gathered she and Oz hadn't had much conversation ever since the rather spectacular night when he'd broken up with Willow.

Giles supposed he wouldn't have talked with him much, were it not for one compelling reason. Looking at his watch, he said, "You're cutting it a bit close."

Oz looked at Buffy and said, "Well, you know me," before he stepped into the cage. He shut the door behind him – Giles had already set up towels for the young man's privacy – and began to get undressed.

Approaching the cage, but careful not to disturb any of the towels, Buffy said, "Oz –"

"Not the time for a long conversation," Oz quite reasonably pointed out.

"Any chance we could talk later?"

"If you want," Oz said. "I'm not Cordelia, though. I don't blame you. I don't think you betrayed me, so I'm not mad at you. Just at Xander and Willow."

"So I don't need to feel uncomfortable talking to you?"

"Not really. If you need help on some big evil, I'm still here. Just –"

"Keep you away from Xander and Willow?"

"Xander, mostly."

At that point the change began and further discussion would have to be postponed until the morning. As Oz growled and hurled himself against the walls of the cage, Buffy turned to Giles and said, "Do we know why they're here?"

Giles said, "I think so. Based on some artifacts I found with them . . . "

And the rest of the conversation was all business.

But Giles had come to a decision: Seeing how bad things had gotten with Oz, and especially with Cordelia, determined him to not keep what had happened with the cruciamentum secret.

Now wasn't the time. He'd wait until after the crisis passed.

And hope that Buffy could forgive him.

While Buffy, Xander, Faith, Angel and Giles were busily dealing with the Sisterhood, Willow was having her own problems.

She knew damn well why they were trying to keep her away from the struggle against armageddon, and she understood their motives; it was her "delicate condition." But how did that earn her an automatic benching whenever things got hairy? She hadn't even started to show yet!

The pregnancy itself, thank the gods and goddesses, was going smoothly -- except that she hadn't told her parents yet; the over-under on when they figured it out on their own was somewhere around the beginning of the third trimester).

Willow'd decided against an abortion, and didn't think she was going to put her baby up for adoption. Xander'd been true to his word and had been ultra-supportive guy the whole way around, not like she'd expected otherwise. Of course, things hadn't gotten difficult for him yet, like they would when her parents found out, or when he had to help support her, but Willow didn't see him cutting and running then either. It wasn't his nature.

There hadn't been any talk of marriage, though Willow was sure Xander would have done that in a heartbeat if she'd wanted it that way; but she didn't. She wasn't sure why, except that she didn't love Xander that way anymore, and she didn't want to rush into something that would change both their lives – even further than they'd already been changed, of course.

Ever since her pregnancy had become public, she hadn't even tried to talk to Oz. According to Giles – who was still helping him with his lycanthropy -- he seemed to be dealing well. Cordy, well, after she'd taken her revenge she'd done her best to disappear from their lives as quickly as she could. They didn't see her much before school, or after, and on those rare occasions they ran into her at the Bronze or elsewhere she simply went in the other direction.

Bored and alone, she went to the Bronze, but there wasn't anyone around to talk to, she didn't like the band, and she wasn't much in the mood for dancing in any event. So after a couple of hours she left.

As she was walking there, she ran into Amy Madison leaving the magic shop. She yelled out, "Hey!"

When Amy saw her, she looked kind of nervous. "Um. Willow."

"Whatcha got in the bag? Anything cool?"

"Not really," she said. "Look, normally I'd love to have a long discussion about magic with you; the more witches, the merrier, that's what I say. But right now, I'm kind of trying to help save –" she broke off, as though afraid she'd already said too much,

"Help save –" suddenly she caught on. "You're helping them, aren't you?"

Nodding a bit sheepishly, Amy said, "Yeah. And I hate keeping it from you – look. Once this is over, I'll show you some spells. There's this guy I know, knows some really good ones. But I can't show you any of them if the world comes to an end."

"I'm holding you to that about the spells, missy," Willow said, and let Amy go.

Down the block, she noticed Jack O'Toole and his friends leaving the hardware store through the window. She frowned, but before she could decide whether to call the cops, they took off running.

And as she stood there she thought, why is she going along with this banishment? This could be the end of the world. She was going to go to the school anyway, prohibitions be damned! If Giles and Buffy didn't like it, just LET them try to throw her out.

Once she got there, she was walking down the hallways towards the library when she heard something – something that didn't sound like one of the Sisterhood (she didn't know too many spells yet, but she had one on hand in case she ran into one – a burst of light that would, she hoped, blind them long enough for her to get away.).

She looked and saw Jack O'Toole and his friends lugging something into the school basement. There was something . . . weird about them, too. They seemed to be decaying. Which in Sunnydale probably meant they were vampires, except she'd seen O'Toole in the daylight a couple of mornings ago. So that meant they were what? Zombies?

Anyway, Jack O'Toole? Look up "up to no good" in the dictionary, you would have found his picture. So Willow was pretty sure that, well, what they were taking into the basement wasn't something as innocent as, say, porn. Especially given their recent trip to the hardware store.

Willow ran to the library, but it looked like the Hellmouth had already started to reopen. This meant, unfortunately, that she was on her own.

She ran back to the basement access – hiding from another of the Sisters who ran by – and crept down the stairs.

"How long?"

"Five minutes. Look, we gotta make sure we get clear. Okay, run!"

Willow ran and his around the corner, then watched O'Toole and his friends sprint out of the building. As soon as they were out of sight, she ran down the stairs and found her worst fears confirmed: there was a bomb in the boiler room. There were a bit over three minutes left on the timer.

She didn't know enough magically to let her defuse it that way, and she didn't want to try to cut wires; if she'd had to guess, she would have bet that O'Toole wasn't going to bother leaving a bomb that would go off if it was touched, not with the goobers he'd been hanging out with. That meant she was going to have to carry the device out of the building herself, a situation also fraught with peril; but, well, all her choices were dangerous, and she wasn't going to let her friends save the world and then die because of some boobs, a bomb, and a boiler.

So she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and picked up the bomb.

It didn't explode.

As quickly as she dared, she took it up the stairs and instinctively ran for the nearest exit. When she got to the front door, there were about thirty seconds left on the timer.

What she'd forgotten is that Jack O'Toole and his friends had also run out that exit. They were standing a hundred feet or so from the school's front door.

No point in stopping now. When she got to within about fifteen feet of O'Toole and his pals – who were just now figuring out that this girl headed in their direction was carrying their bomb – she said, "here, catch," tossed one of the dumber-looking ones the bomb, made a hard right, and started counting down from ten to zero. At two she dove to the ground.

A huge explosion tore through the Sunnydale night behind her, sending body parts flying everywhere. Once it was over, she stood up, looked around, saw nothing but a big hole in the sidewalk and lots of pieces of the formerly living dead.

She walked away, whistling. "Delicate condition," her ASS . . .

Part 18

Cordelia was sitting in the Bronze, avoiding most of the people she knew (until it was time to dance) and listening to this student activist type --- name of Josie Palladino-- from UC-Sunnydale pour her heart out.

This time, it was state delegate Anna Vazquez, a publicly proclaimed champion of women's issues, who was the target of some well-deserved wrath. To make a long story short, it turned out Ms. Vazquez (like this was a surprise) was one of those politicians who talk a good talk as long as it gets them elected, and then feels free to violate campaign promises left, right, and sideways.

Actually, Cordelia was surprised she hadn't gotten more people complaining about politicians. (She'd been expecting hundreds of people bitching about Clinton alone.) But this was her first one.

But not her first time. She'd gotten three people bitching about Vazquez so far, and the woman simply hadn't learned her lesson yet.

"I helped bring out the student vote for this woman," Josie complained. "You know? And now this!"

"I hear you," Cordelia said. "I liked her too. Would've voted for her if I'd been old enough."

"I thought you said you were eighteen," Josie said skeptically.

Stupid, Cordelia, stupid! What did D'Hoffryn tell you? Play it safe. Stay neutral! Don't lose the vengeance because you say something controversial or designed to rouse suspicion. "I am," Cordelia said. "But I wasn't on election day."

"Hmmm. Right, anyway, you know what I wish would happen to that hypocrite?"

"I would love to hear this," Cordelia said, and meant it.

"I wish her lying tongue would fall out of her head."

Cordelia nodded. She could do this. "You got it," she said as her ring glowed.

When she got done talking, she went out to the dance floor and boogied the night away. The next morning before school she teleported into Ms. Vazquez' hospital room.

The delegate's eyes widened when she saw Cordelia's demon form for the third time in a month. Then, wordlessly (because they'd just barely managed to sew her tongue back in; she'd never be able to speak as clearly, or effectively, again), she began to cuss Cordelia out.

"Well, if you'd learned your lesson the first time I wouldn't have to keep doing this," Cordelia said. "Now. QUIT LYING. Quit betraying people. This is your last warning. Next time I won't be so nice."

Sheesh! What was it with some people?

It had been a couple of days since they'd defeated the Sisterhood; the struggle had been one of absurdly narrow escapes and last-second saves, so much so that it almost came off like a microcosmic self-parody of their lives and battles up to that point.

The important thing, though, was that everyone had survived, though it had been a near thing for some of them. Faith had had a long-running battle through the streets of Sunnydale with one of the sisters that had only ended when she'd thrown it into the path of an oncoming train, and their climactic battle with the Hellmouth Beast had almost gotten Angel killed.

Still, the world continued to turn, and in the end that was the important thing.

Now came an even more difficult task: confessing to Buffy.

"You're doing the right thing, Watcher-man," Faith said as she and Giles sat there in the library. "You sure you want me and Angel there?" For his part, Angel was leaning against the rare-books cage, which was back to its normal appearance, the full moon being gone for another twenty-five days or so. The vampire had more or less completely recovered from his injuries.

"You know what happened. Yes. So she can get the complete story."

"Because, you do realize if she decides to slug you a couple times, I ain't gonna be stopping her?"

Giles chuckled ruefully. "As long as you stop her from actually murdering me, I think things should be okay."

"Any word on this observer the Council's sending?" Angel asked.

"Yes," Giles said, relieved to be taking his mind off the impending discussion, if only fleetingly. "He should be here in a couple of days."

"Well, don't expect me to start toein' the line just to impress this yahoo," Faith said. "I'm a lot more into working and playing well with others than I used to be, but doing the things the," and she affected an atrocious English accent, "proper way still ain't my style."

"We will continue to do things the way we've been doing them," Giles said, "And if this Wesley Wyndham-Price doesn't like it he can go hang."

From near the door, Buffy asked, "Who can go hang?"

"New Watcher," Faith said. "Giles and I have divvied it up. He buys the rope, I kick away the horse." She smiled at Buffy.

"We have decided no such –" abruptly, Giles realized that Faith was just, in current American parlance, "yanking his chain."

Buffy noticed Angel and smiled, then frowned. "Something big up?" she asked.

"Kind of," Angel said. "Not of the big impending evil sort, though."

After looking around the room for a second, Buffy said, "Okay, there's a definite something to be said and a definite lack of enthusiasm for wanting to say it. Spill."

Wordlessly, Giles reached into his bag and pulled out a small case. Opening it, he produced the unused needle, still full of the narcotic he'd injected into Buffy's system in preparation for that damned cruciamentum.

Slightly confused, Buffy said, "So we're going into drug dealing?"

"You need to understand," Giles said, "That this is done in the interest of full disclosure. Of not making the same mistakes that we made in regard to Xander and Willow's encounter."

"Giles," Buffy said, exasperated, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Giles told her.

About twenty minutes later, Buffy was sitting, stunned, in one of the library's many chairs, just staring at the yellow liquid. "I can't believe this . . ."

"Believe it, B," Faith said. "I saw it –"

Buffy shook her head. "That's not the part I'm having trouble believing."

Angel said, "I saw the vampire and several members of the Council –"

"That's not the part I'm having trouble believing either." After a moment, "Were you going to go through with it?"

"Excuse me?" Giles asked.

"If Faith hadn't caught you. You called the cruciamentum a barbaric and disgusting ritual, but you were going to do it. So, let's say Faith goes directly to a weapons store. Would your disgust," and the amount of venom in that last word was overpowering, "have stopped you from finishing up the ritual? Would you at least have had the decency to tell me what was going on?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, which Giles finally broke with, "I don't know. I'd like to think I would have – but I truly can't say."

"Well, that's honest, anyway." Then she turned to look at Faith and Angel. "And you two –"

Faith looked back at her. "Look. B. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you. Not after what you did for me. I would've burned that building down if I'd had to to stop that test from happening."

"That should go without saying for me, too," Angel added. "And I'd have done the same."

"But you didn't tell me about it," Buffy said. "God! After what happened the last time, with Xander, with Willow, you'd think we'd have all learned."

Earnestly, Faith said, "If Giles hadn't told you, I would have. So would Angel. We did learn our lessons."

"Really? How?"

"Because Giles was the one who told you," Angel said quietly. "It may have taken him awhile, but he did. And he came to you."

Buffy looked first at Faith, then Angel, then Giles. Finally she said, "There is that." She chuckled bitterly. "I asked for honesty, it's not fair of me to bitch about getting it."

"I would give anything never to have started," Giles said.

Buffy nodded. "I think I know that. But it did." Before anyone could say anything, she stood up. "Look. I think it'll be okay. Eventually. You and you," she said, talking to Angel and Faith, "You'd have told me if he hadn't."

"Eventually," Angel said without a trace of irony.

"You know it, B."

"Well, then. Until eventually." And she left the library. That had gone better than Giles had feared. It seemed as though his link with Buffy had been merely bent, not broken.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Angel asked.

Faith said, "'course she will. She's B. She can get through anything."

Giles stopped and looked at Faith. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"Damn right I do." The look on her face was almost worshipful. Giles recalled that Faith had more than once referred to Buffy as her savior. He now wondered how literally she meant it . . .

A couple of days later, Mr. Trick brought some swords into the Mayor's office and dumped them on his desk.

"So what about these swords?" the deputy mayor asked nervously. What should we do about that?"

Mayor Wilkins examined them closely, then said, "Well, let's just keep an eye out. We've got the dedication coming up in a few days. We certainly can't have anything interfering with that."

Jittery as a mouse at a cat show, the deputy mayor said, "Well, maybe we should postpone the... the-the dedication." The Mayor looked at him as though he'd just suggested he run himself through with a sword.

"I believe," Mr. Trick said, "The honorable mayor HATES that idea." The look on the deputy mayor's face clearly showed that he'd figured this out already.

Mayor Wilkins stood up and walked around the room. "The dedication is the final step before my Ascension." As the deputy mayor dodged out of his way, the Mayor opened a cabinet and took out some towelettes, then began wiping his hands. After the Hundred Days, I'll be on a higher plane. And I'll have no more need for . . .well, let's just say I won't be concerned with the little things. Trick, watch these people. Anything you find out about them, let's just see that the information reaches the Slayers. Who knows? With any luck, they'll kill each other. Then everyone's a winner." He paused a second and started to chuckle. "Everyone, of course, meaning me."

Part 19

Cordelia hated Arashmaharr. The place stank and there wasn't a clear floor and the smoke couldn't have been doing her hair any good.

Still, when D'Hoffryn called, you came.

"I've been monitoring your progress," he said.

"Good to know," Cordelia said.

D'Hoffryn frowned. "Aren't you worried about how I might judge you?"

"No," Cordelia said. "Why should I be?" After a second, "Should I be?"

"Well, it must be said you've proven rather . . . imaginative. That one where the man wished his business partner would choke on all that money he stole . . . "

Shrugging, Cordelia said. "Nothing real imaginative there. He wanted the guy to choke; he choked. The man nearly died, and the eighty thou was ripped off by the man that saved him. Seemed fair."

"You do seem to want to avoid actually killing."

"I told you that going in," Cordelia said. "I'm not out for blood. Besides, what good is revenge if the people you're taking it on don't understand what's happening to them?"

"And that, I suppose, is the purpose of your . . . lessons?"

"Lessons? Oh, you mean when I teleport in and tell them to knock off the lying. Yeah, pretty much. They're not going to learn if they're dead. Of course, some of them are having trouble learning right now, but I think overall people are getting it."

D'Hoffryn nodded. "I think you have a genuine appreciation for the finer points of revenge," he said. "Too many of my demons just want to cause as much physical pain as they can; they seem to care nothing about the mental pain. By keeping your victims alive, you're assuring that they feel that."

"I should damn well hope so," Cordelia said. "So, I take it I shouldn't be worried?"

"Not worried at all," D'Hoffryn said. "I think you have a real future in vengeance."

"Always good to hear. So, can I go? I've got this one woman in Japan I need to catch up to." Ability to speak any language was a nice fringe benefit of being a vengeance demon.

"Certainly, my dear. I never stand in the way of a good vengeance."

Xander, Willow, Buffy and Faith were sitting in the student lounge around a table piled high with letters from colleges. Picking up a few, Xander began to read. "Harvard. Yale. Wesleyan. Some German Polytechnical institute whose name I can't pronounce. Is anyone else intimidated? Because I'm just expecting thin slips of paper with the words 'no way' written in crayon."

"Yeah, well," Faith said, cracking her knuckles. "I don't gotta worry about that. I don't think college is the life for me. I'm working my butt off here to get C's and occasional B's; I don't think I want to go where it gets even harder."

"Yeah, but that's your CHOICE," Xander said. "Me? I get visions of people cracking open my applications and laughing until they collapse."

Meanwhile, Willow and Buffy were looking through some of the other brochures.

Willow said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, "I got in. Yay me." She opened another letter and said sadly, "Oh. They're even fighting over me. I've never had people fight over me before."

"Sensing no thrill, Will," Buffy said. "What's up?"

Willow's wordless answer was to point down towards her stomach. "A single mother in college? Yeah, that'll be REAL easy."

"Well, hell," Xander said, "It's not like I'll be doing anything. Ooh. No. wait. I'm still waiting to hear back from the Corndog Emporium." He gazed up towards the heavens ironically. Faith and Buffy laughed.

"No, Xander," Willow said. "We agreed. I'm not going to tie you down –"

"Will," Xander said, "This isn't being tied down. This is my choice. Okay?"

"I just don't want you to regret –"

Before Xander could answer, Buffy said, "You've got almost six months to work it out. No need to settle it all in one day." Cordelia passed by and sneered in their general direction, but didn't say anything. Ever since the big revelation, she'd not only stayed away from the Scoobies, she'd become almost a hermit. She'd given up her extracurriculars, and didn't seem to go on many dates. The only thing the new Cordelia has in common with the old Cordelia was, well, her fabulous fashion sense.

The few times Buffy'd tried to talk to Cordy, she'd been rebuffed. At least Oz seemed willing to leave the lines of communication open. Eventually, Buffy'd shrugged and put it aside. Cordy was hurting, she had reason to hurt, so there was no point in trying to force her to talk if she didn't want to.

Still sucked the way it had happened, though.

Willow started gathering up her acceptance letters. Faith said, "Yo. Xander. You mean what you just said?"

"About the Corndog Emporium? Naaah, they already turned me down."

"No. The responsibility gig."

Xander nodded vigorously. "I never would've considered doing anything else."

"Good to see some guys getting it." Xander smiled.

"Will," Buffy said. "You still up for helping me with Mrs. Taggart's chemistry exam?"

"I'm pregnant, Buff. It doesn't affect my brain. Okay, it does, but not that way. Sure I can help. It's a lot like witchcraft, only less newt. Come over tonight."

"Faith, you good for the patrolling?"

"It's more fun when you're there." After a second, "Still, likely nothing I can't handle."

"Good."

Then the bell rang and they went their separate ways.

Faith trailed B to the library. It'd been a bitch and a half scheduling the two of them for the same free period, but somehow Giles had managed it.

B still wasn't completely happy about what had happened with the test, but she was getting there. She and Giles kept it business most of the time, but B loved the guy too much to keep it that way for too long.

When they opened the doors, Giles was sitting on top of the table, looking like he would've rather been hitting his own head with a hammer. Some other dude with an English accent was standing up and talking. Cute if you liked that kind of dweebish charm, which Faith didn't.

"Of course," the man said. "Training procedures have been updated quite a bit since your day. Much greater emphasis on field work."

"Really," Giles said, bored out of his skull.

Course, the other guy didn't even notice. "Oh yes. It's not all books and theory nowadays. I have, in fact, faced two vampires myself. Under controlled circumstances, of course."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Nothing harder than killing a vamp who's all tied up."

Suddenly the two noticed B and Faith. "Hello, Faith. Buffy."

"Hey, Giles," B said.

"Well, hello," the man said, pompous as anything.

B looked at him, and then at Giles and said, "The observer?"

Giles nodded. "The observer."

He held out his hand. "Wesley Wyndham-Price. At your service." Faith shook his hand, and so did Buffy. "Faith . . . is it?" he said. "The vampires were not tied up. It was more of an . . . arena setting."

"With lotsa other Watchers around to take out the vamp case he got too frisky," Faith said.

"Well . . . yes."

B asked Wesley, "Are you evil?"

"Evil?"

"The last Watcher we got was evil."

"Ah yes," Wesley said. "Gwendolyn Post. We all heard. No, Mr. Giles has checked my credentials rather thoroughly and even phoned the Council, but I'm glad to see you're on the ball as well. A good Slayer is a cautious Slayer." After a moment or so of silence, he nodded to Giles. "Well? This is your show, after all."

"How good of you to notice," Giles said sarcastically. "How did the patrolling go last night?"

"Vampires," B said.

"And?" Giles prompted.

"We killed them."

"Yeah," Faith said, not wanting B to get herself or Giles in trouble because of the strain they were going through. "One of 'em was carrying a sword. Knew how to use it, too."

Apparently, this prodded B along a bit, because she added, "Yeah. He also had on some kind of costume."

"You mean, like a pirate outfit?"

Faith laughed. "Naah. Leather. Looked kinda Asian."

"What happened to the swords?" Wesley asked.

B shrugged. "Don't know. We looked for them after the fight, but they were gone."

"Swords and uniforms," Wesley said. "Hold on a bit, would you?" He opened a book he'd brought with him and began to look through it. "One long, one short?"

"Yup."

"Jeweled, too," Faith added.

"That does sound familiar," Giles said to Wesley. Wesley handed him the book, and Giles read "El eliminati. Fifteenth century duelist cult. Said to have almost vanished in later centuries – largely because they killed each other off."

"They later became the acolytes of a demon named Balthazar," Wesley said. "He brought them to the new world – specifically, here. But they were driven off and Balthazar was killed."

Faith said, "Well, whether Balthazar kicked or not, the cult's alive. Wonder what they're doing in town."

"This is the Hellmouth," B said. "Not like vamps really need an excuse."

"True enough," Giles said. "But according to this, Balthazar had an amulet that made him stronger. After he died, a local man took the amulet and it was apparently buried with him." He closed the book.

B said, "So what do you think? They just trying to find this thing for kicks, or you think maybe Balthazar isn't as dead as they say?"

"Interesting question," Giles said. "Either way, I think we need the amulet –"

"Right. We'll get it tonight." B paused. "Anything else?"

"Only that it was nice to meet you both," Wesley said.

"Yeah, likewise I'm sure," Faith said, and they both took off.

Out in the quad a few minutes later, Faith said, "I thought things were getting better with you and Giles?"

"They are," B said. "I just thought that with the observer there I should be businesslike. You know? Not cause any trouble?

"Gotcha," Faith said, though she wasn't convinced. B still had some stuff to work through.

Faith was sure she'd do it, though. After all, she was B.

" . . . it yourself?" B asked.

"Sorry, what?"

"Can you handle getting the amulet yourself?"

"What, you think you're talking to an amateur here?"

B's eyes widened. "You're not an amateur? Well, tell me who's sending your checks, because I'm not getting mine . . ."

They bantered like that for a few minutes before they had to split off and head for class. B seemed a little happier when she went.

And damn, but wasn't that good to see.

That night, while B and Willow did some cramming, Faith headed to the Gleaves tomb. She'd opened a couple of coffins and was just about to take the amulet when she saw torches and heard voices. She grabbed it and dove behind the first coffin.

Six vamps, like the one she and B had killed the night before, came in and looked around. They poked at the open coffin and the leader growled.

Faith figured she had about five seconds before they checked the other coffin and found her hiding behind it.

Well, this wasn't going to be fun . . .

Part 20

Buffy and Willow were taking a quick break from studying.

"Just wanted to let you know . . . I've been talking with Oz. Keeping him in the loop."

Willow sighed. "That's good. The loop thing, I mean."

"Yeah. He even says that if something really heavy goes down we can count him in."

A little hesitantly, "How is he?"

"You haven't tried to talk to him?"

"A couple of times, and, then, well, you remember how I was when you met me? How I kept tripping over my own tongue when it came to anything related to guys, or, well, anything?" Buffy indicated that she did. "Ten times worse. But, if you talk to him again, tell him I'm sorry, okay?"

"I will. He's still mad. More at Xander than you –"

"No!" Willow said. "He should be mad at me."

Looking at Willow skeptically, Buffy said, "You're not going to tell me that Xander was completely innocent."

"We were equally guilty," Willow said. "Tell him it's not fair of him to be more angry at Xander than at me." Buffy frowned. "Tell him," Willow said.

"Anyone ever tell you you'd make a good dictator?" Buffy asked.

"My life's ambition."

"Watch out. Get too uppity I might have to take you down."

"Like you could." They laughed, and then Willow said, "I hope Faith's doing okay. You know, now that she's not being completely skanky I actually kind of like her."

"She does kind of grow on you, doesn't she? It's just –"

"Yeah?"

"Well, she still seems to be in full hero-worship mode with me. A day doesn't go by when she's not telling me how great I am, or how glad she is I saved her, or something like that. And don't get me wrong, it's flattering being up on this pedestal. But I feel like I can't slip, you know?" She cracked her knuckles. "It's actually a pretty big incentive to stay on the straight and narrow. But I'd like to think every once in a while I could get a little wild or make a mistake without worrying whether she's going to end up back on the road to Hell."

"I don't think it's only you, Buff. She's friendly with me and Xander, she likes Giles—" Buffy's face twisted a second, but she didn't say anything –"and I think she really loves your mom."

"Got a point there," Buffy said. "She's just not used to the nice mom routine. Faith's own mom was a bitch beyond words. Not only am I not surprised she ended up the way she did, I'm amazed there was anything left for me to reach at all." She looked out the window. "But she should be okay. After all, it's just a snatch-and-grab routine, right?"

Used to be, faced with six vamps and a do-or-die situation, Faith would've laughed and attacked – whether that would've been a death wish or just extreme sports taken a step too far, she didn't want to know. But now? Now she'd gotten a little of her sensible back. "Damn-the-Torpedoes" was almost sure suicide.

Of course, just waiting there and hoping the vamps just didn't look behind the next coffin wasn't exactly the surest way to a long healthy life, either, but at least now she was able to give what she was going to do a little thought before she threw herself into the line of fire.

She had three options: Slug her way out, try to run for it, or talk. Slugging it out wasn't an option. Running, well, they'd left the door open, but she'd have to plow through three of the vamps hanging back near the door.

What would B do?

She had it. She stood up and said, "Okay, now, you want this, right?" As one the vampires growled and went for their swords. "Whoa!" Faith said, putting the amulet on the crypt floor and putting her foot over it. "Let's not overreact. I ain't dumb enough to try to fight you, but if you try to take me out before I have my say I'll smash this thing. And I'm thinking, you want it whole more than you want me dead."

"Smash it and we'll kill you," the leader said.

"Looks like," Faith said, "But I'm gonna take a few of you with me when I go." They looked at her like they didn't believe her. "Oh, come on," she said. "You think I would've been sent for this thing if I couldn't take on a vampire or two?" She reached forward and hefted the nearer coffin lid into the air, then dropped it, being very careful not to actually step on the amulet.

The vampire muttered among themselves for a few seconds. "—human either" – "Balthasar would be furious" – "can take her, I know" – "That bastard Wilkins must've hired her" –

Whoa. She was glad she'd just gotten the scoop on Balthasar's not being dead, but what the hell was this about a Wilkins? Only Wilkins she knew ran the town. She'd run it by B and Giles, assuming she got out of here not dead. "So," the leader said, shutting up the others with a look, "If you're working for Wilkins why're you so willing to sell him out? That's not . . . honorable."

Honorable . . . okay, she had to remember that too. Vamps with a sense of ethics. Who'd've thunk it? "I don't . . . work for Wilkins. Not that way. Strictly a one-time gig, get in, get the amulet, give it to him, get out. I only get paid if I deliver the goods. So if I turn it over to you, I don't get paid but I get to keep my life."

They muttered among themselves again, more quietly this time. Apparently they didn't figure her for super-hearing. Too bad she didn't actually have it.

Of course, while she was wishing, she'd take heat vision and super-strength.

"All right," the leader said. "Give us the amulet and we'll let you walk."

"Wasn't born yesterday," Faith said. "So here's how it's going to work. I'm going to pick this up and walk over to the door. Then I'll drop the amulet and clear out of the neighborhood. I don't want to be anywhere near here when Wilkins finds out I've failed."

"You doubt our word?" the leader asked threateningly.

Faith worked out her response as she talked: "Not that, so much," she said slowly, "But I think you think I'm not honorable . . . and that if I'm not honorable then you might as well not keep your bargain with me." From the looks on their faces she knew she'd gotten it right.

Still, they couldn't exactly say that. The leader did his best to sound like he'd been insulted and said, a bit snotty, "Of course not. But if you prefer to do it your way, then we will. We have to have the amulet." Reluctantly, the other vamps nodded as well.

"Put away your swords," Faith said. "Wouldn't want your hands to slip or nothing."

"Our swords will remain out," the leader said.

Faith supposed that was the best she could do. She picked up the amulet and, carefully keeping her back to the wall, slithered around the edge of the crypt and to the door, avoiding the urns. When she got to the door she took one more backwards step and said, "By the way. You know that part about me being dishonorable?"

"Yes?"

"You were right." And she shoved the door open and ran like hell.

"A remarkable tale," Giles said in the library the next morning. "Bluffing six vampires – that took quite a bit of intelligence. Well done, Faith."

"Yeah, well, I just wondered what B would do, and I came up with this."

"Normally," Wesley said with a hint of reproof, "I would think it unwise to leave live enemies behind. However, the amulet was the top priority, and you indeed brought it back. Permit me to echo Mr. Giles. Well done. Plus, you wisely emulated an older, more experienced Slayer." Faith smiled and said thanks.

During the conversation, Giles was examining the amulet. "This is it," Giles said. "This is Balthazar's."

"Shouldn't you verify it first?" Wesley asked. At Giles' glare, Wesley said, "I'm just saying –"

"I know what you're saying," Faith said. "And if I'd found this thing out there lying on the ground somewhere, then yeah, I'd say run it through the crime lab. But it was supposed to be in this dude's crypt, and it was. And that cult – who ain't nearly as extinct as you thought – was in there looking for it too, and they all acted real nervous when I made like I was going to smash it."

"Well put," Giles said.

Wesley didn't say anything, so Giles assumed he agreed with Faith's surprisingly well-reasoned argument. He made a mental note to himself to stop underestimating the girl; that just because she was uneducated hardly meant she was unintellegent.

"Oh yeah," Faith said. "One more thing and then I gotta haul ass to class: The cult thought I was working for some guy named Wilkins."

"Wilkins?" Giles said. "Are you quite certain?"

"Yeah. Only Wilkins I know is the Mayor of this town. Thought you'd want to know."

"Thanks. I'll bear it in mind." Then she left.

"Do you actually think the Mayor is involved in all of this?" Wesley asked.

"I have no idea," Giles said. "Offhand I'd say no, but then this wouldn't be the first time that a politician had decided to get into supernatural affairs. It wouldn't even be the first time this decade. Nor would be the first time danger had arrived from some direction we couldn't possibly have anticipated."

"True enough," Wesley said. Then, with no segue, he said, "Would you like to hear my opinion of you so far?"

"If I said no," Giles said tiredly, "Would that stop you?"

Wesley forced a laugh and said, "No. In any event, while this is certainly only a preliminary evaluation, I am forced to admit that despite your not doing things by the book nearly as often as you should, your Slayers appear disciplined and intelligent and they seem to have their eyes on the bigger picture and not simply on the immediate kill."

"So you approve."

"Of your results, certainly. Your methods could stand some fine-tuning, and perhaps you could be a little firmer with your discipline, but overall I'd say I very much approve."

And Giles was left speechless.

Part 21

After finishing Mrs. Taggart's test – she actually thought she'd done pretty well – Buffy went to see Giles. Faith had already given her the lowdown on her thrilling escapades of the previous night, but she didn't know what any of it meant yet.

And besides, no matter what she'd said to Faith yesterday, she wasn't still back on full speaking terms. No .matter how much Giles had apologized, no matter that he'd told the truth about her weakness, betrayal bothered her.

But she had to get past it. For her sake, for his, for the sake of the team. So while she'd rather just avoid him for the moment, she couldn't do that.

She opened the library doors. Giles was sitting at the table, reading, with an amulet Buffy guessed was the one had gotten Faith chased over half of Sunnydale; Wesley was doing a little shadow-swordplay off in the corner, lecturing Giles on the Council's "new training methods."

Wesley was awfully green and pompous; kind of like early Giles. Maybe that was why he was being sent on a review mission; while he knew his way around books, and his swordplay wasn't incompetent, he wouldn't have lasted more than five minutes in actual combat. Buffy supposed the Council had to have its share of bureaucrats, and maybe Wesley was on that fast-track, because he'd obviously never make a street-fighter.

The observer saw her first. "Ah! Ms. Summers!" he said, fumbling the sword back into its scabbard. "Good morning!"

"Morning," Buffy said back with distinctly less enthusiasm. "Hey, Giles. Anything on the amulet?"

Giles looked up. "I assume Faith told you of last night's escapades?"

"Every hair-raising plot twist," Buffy said. "Including this thing about the Mayor maybe being involved somehow?"

"It seems unlikely," Giles said. "Still, as soon as the immediate threat is over, we should probably check it out."

Buffy nodded. "Done and done. Now please, tell me she didn't piss off a cult of warrior vampires for nothing."

"No, no, this is it," Giles said. "Which means that they'll be looking for it . . . and Faith. I fear it's looking more and more like Balthazar may actually be alive.

"I'm still not convinced," Wesley said. "All the records indicate –"

"Wes," Buffy said, "No offense, but it's been my experience that while books are a good place to start, they're not always a good place to finish. Faith faced six of these cultists last night, and if they're not dead then maybe there's a shot Balthazar isn't as well?"

"I suppose," Wesley said, "That that's a possibility. Well argued, Ms. Summers. However, as of yet we have no actual proof. Let's not jump to any conclusions?"

"I won't if you won't," Buffy said. After a second, Wesley smiled, but it was the smile of someone who didn't quite get the joke.

"In any event," Giles said, "Since the cult wants to get its hands on the amulet irrespective of whether Balthazar himself is around to claim it, what do we do with it?"

"Keep it somewhere safe," Buffy said.

"Yes, but where could it be safer than here?" Wesley asked. "Where it could be protected by two Slayers?"

"We're not here all the time, Wes," Buffy said. "Don't worry. I have an idea."

"Angel?"

"Hey. What's up?"

"We've gotten ourselves into a fight with this warrior cult and their supposedly dead demon overlord –"

Angel smiled. "Supposedly is right, at least by the way they're talking. Word on the street puts him in the packing warehouse on Devereau. You mean Balthazar, right?"

In mock exasperation, Buffy threw up her hands. "Why do I bother telling you anything?" Angel smiled a little wider. "Anyway, last night Faith nearly got herself killed getting this –" She pulled the amulet out of her pocket. "She's got the vamps out for her hide right now. She's kind of laying low while I take tonight's patrolling. Anyway, you think you could hide this?"

"You like Faith's hide better than mine?" Angel said, taking the amulet.

Buffy stuck out her tongue. "Not hardly," Buffy said. "But I'm the only one who knows you have it. Those vamps would have to be a lot smarter than they've let on so far to manage to track it to you." After a second. "How're you doing?"

"I'm okay," he said. "I think all the injuries I got from the Hellmouth beast have healed."

"Good," Buffy said. "Good."

Neither one of them said anything for a minute or so.

"So," Buffy said, "Devereau, you say?"

Angel nodded. "You're not thinking of going in alone, are you?"

"Unless they're torturing kids or puppies, no."

"Good idea. Do you . . . want backup?"

"Strictly recon," Buffy said. "Thanks, though."

"Always," Angel said. "In that case, I'd better make sure this thing's out of reach."

"Good," Buffy said. "Good."

Eventually she got around to leaving.

The word on the street was right. The cult was in the warehouse . . . and Balthazar was in there, assuming Balthazar was the pale fat tub of goo sitting in, well, a tub. He angrily berated his followers while Buffy watched.

He had to have a dozen of his followers there; that alone would've made Buffy think twice about charging in, but Balthazar also used some kind of mind-voodoo to drag one of the vampires close to him.

Ick and triple ick. That had to be one of the grossest experiences imaginable . . . for once in her life, she sympathized with a vampire.

A couple of more minutes taught her nothing except that Balthazar had a lousy temper and REALLY wanted that amulet.

Okay. This should all prove useful. Come back tomorrow with a strike force, go in hard and fast.

Who said things were never easy?

Mayor Richard Wilkins had just survived a sneak attack from one of Balthazar's warriors, and had only been saved by the timely intervention of Mr. Trick. After the Mayor ordered the vampire locked up, Trick said, "He wakes up, he's just gonna try and kill you again."

As the Mayor sat down, he said, "Yes, yes; I expect he will."

Deputy Mayor Finch said, "If you don't need me, sir, I'll, I think I'll go check on security."

Mayor Wilkins nodded. "You do that, Allan. And try to relax, would you?"

Entirely unrelaxed, Finch said, "I'll do that." Then he left the room.

"Why do you keep him around?" Trick asked. "I assume it's not just so I'll have a food supply case I don't make it out one PM."

The Mayor laughed. "Allan? He's good with the paperwork. Also, he does all those pesky mayoral things I haven't had time for ever since I began my Ascension. That's a job of work, you know. But tonight it should all come together."

"Everything's set?"

The Mayor clasped his hands. "Everything."

"Anything you want done about—" he gestured towards where Vincent still lay –"his type? Near as I can tell the Slayers already know about them; dunno if they got the goods on your fat rival, but he still might be an issue."

"Drop a few hints their way. Just in case. They should both be at the school."

Trick nodded, but said, "Gonna be a little hard to manage, what with the daylight and all."

Laughing, the Mayor stood and clapped Trick on the shoulder. "That's why I pay you the big bucks." He grabbed his notebook and left the room.

Trick watched him go. "Someone's way behind on the paychecks, then . . ."

After a big breakfast the next morning – Joyce had been in the mood for a stack of pancakes, and Faith and B weren't gonna turn those down – they hauled tail to the library. Xander and Willow were already there, and Giles and Wesley were chatting it up something fierce in his office. B went over and made small talk with Xander and Willow.

Meantime, Faith watched the fun in the office.

". . . . they're civilians," Wesley said. "Normal, unpowered civilians. I can see bringing Buffy's tame vampire into this –" Whoa, good thing B couldn't read lips.

"The civilians have spent more time fighting vampires than you have," Giles said.

"Fine. I still register my disapproval."

"See how it works," Giles said tiredly, "Before you register."

Wesley said, "I shall do precisely that."

They came out, still glaring at each other. "Well, then, we're all here," he said. "Shall we come up with out battle plan?"

"We're . . . not all here, Giles," Buffy .

"Yeah," Xander said, "But, darn that pesky sun, Angel's kind of stuck where he is."

B said, "I didn't mean Angel – I'm gonna fill him in as soon as we're done."

"I think a daylight attack would be preferable," Wesley said. "Surely the advantages of sunlight would more than make up for the lack of another combatant?"

"Angel's the only other one around I'm SURE can take on these bozos one-on-one, Wes," Buffy said. "We need that more than we need a few patches of sun."

"'sides," Faith said. "These guys are experienced. They're not gonna leave a whole lot of sunlight streaming in anyway."

Willow said, "You said we're not all here, Buffy. Who else is coming?"

And, from the doorway, Oz said, "Hey."

Part 22

Weeks of practice and Cordelia'd gotten good. When she'd started this vengeance demon gig, she was careful to only do it before or after school – and she'd kind of given up her social life as a consequence. Not that she had much of one, what with her hating Buffy and her friends and Harmony and her flock doing their best to make her as invisible as possible, but she was no damn Marcie Ross and she was never going to be.

It had taken her a while, but she figured if she kept showing up at school and nowhere else then either Buffy and her crew would get suspicious, or even worse, they'd get CONCERNED. So she was now making the occasional Bronze scene just to hang out and be seen. And she made damn sure she WAS seen. She didn't need any followers to be popular; she was Cordelia Chase, after all. She led the crowd, she didn't follow it.

And she'd puzzled out how to dodge out in the middle of the school day simply by saying she was going to the bathroom. She'd managed to finish off four or five wishes that way in the last couple of weeks, including a Japanese woman wishing her ex-boyfriend would never have another honest lover for the rest of his life. Okay, not spectacular, but it was going to bring in some future business and the guy'd be suffering for a while.

So she wasn't expecting this time to be any different – there was a guy in Cleveland who was primed and ready to curse up a storm against his auto mechanic. But when she got to the bathroom, before she could head into a stall and teleport out, she got thrown against the lavatory wall.

She found Anyanka glaring at her. "Give me my powers back," the ex-demon demanded.

Not being particularly gentle about it, Cordelia shoved her across the room and sighed. "Go away, Anyanka."

Standing up, she said, "No. For over a thousand years I wielded the powers of the wish, and now look at me. I'm mortal." She frowned. "I'm pathetic. And it's your fault."

"It's your own damn fault and you know it," Cordelia said, losing patience. "Now go away and don't bother me again." She walked into the stall.

She could hear Anyanka vowing, "I WILL get my powers back. And if you won't give them to me willingly, then – then –"

"Then what?" Cordelia snapped. "I beat you when you had powers and I didn't. What makes you think things are going to change now?"

Then she teleported away.

"Oz," Willow said towards the doorway.

Then, just in case anyone hadn't gotten it, she looked back at the table and said, "Oz. It's Oz."

"We see him, Will," Xander said. "Hey."

Oz ignored him and looked directly at Buffy. "You said you had something big. What's up?"

Buffy opened her mouth, but before she could answer Wesley said, "Now, really, I must protest. It is against my better judgment that Mr. Harris and Ms. Rosenberg be involved in this. But this young man, who, I've never even been introduced to –"

"His name is Oz," Faith said, smirking.

Wesley looked at her sourly. "Well, yes; I'd picked up that much. But what does he bring to our combat?"

"An additional pair of eyes and arms and the best nose in town," Buffy said. Then, looking at Oz, she said, "Oz, Wesley. Wesley, Oz."

"Hey." Oz moved over and leaned against the rare books cage. To Buffy, he said, "Observer guy?"

"Observer guy."

Then Giles said, "Right then." He took a piece of paper from his briefcase. "According to what Willow was able to get off the internet, plus Buffy's observation, this is the floor plan we have of the warehouse. Balthasar is here," he said, pointing to the map, "and he is more or less immobile. Still, he does seem to have a telekinetic power of sorts . . ." Buffy and Giles had worked out the rough outline of a plan in advance; Giles was doing the majority of the presentation for a good reason. They'd figured he was bound to get testy when Buffy brought Xander, Willow and Oz into the action, so that the Watcher was the one doing the leading was a way of getting him to calm down.

"Oz," Giles said. "How is your . . . nose?"

"If I concentrate, I can definitely smell things that I wouldn't have been able to before. I could pick any of you out of a room. I can't tell what you had for breakfast this morn – pancakes?" he said, looking at Buffy.

"Not bad," Buffy said. She stole a look at Willow. She seemed to not be in imminent danger of hyperventilating, but she was definitely freaked.

"Buffy was able to slip in," Giles continued, "Because she was by herself and knows how to be stealthy. Faith and Angel share the same ability. The rest of us, though –"

"Might as well be walking around in clown suits tooting those little horns," Faith said.

"Not quite the metaphor I would have used, but effectively, yes," Giles said. "The plan is for us to split into two forces. Buffy, Angel and I will be coming in in one direction. Faith will be leading the rest of you in the other. You will primarily be a distraction and will come in a grand display. Oz: We'd like you to keep your nose out for anyone along the route. It will do us no good if you're ambushed. We're going to be going shortly after dark, to maximize the likelihood that we catch the entire cult."

Xander said, "Wouldn't want one of those murderous little buggers to slip by us."

"Oz, Xander: You will be given crossbows. Start shooting when you go in – try not to aim them towards Faith. When the vampires approach – and they will, Faith having thoroughly embarrassed them earlier --turn and run. Buffy, Angel and I will then attack from the other direction." Angel was going to make his way through the sewers as close to the wa He's the one who'd told them about the back way in.rehouse as he could, and then run the rest of the way there right at nightfall.

"And myself?" Wesley said.

Giles' eyebrows raised. "I didn't realize you wanted to come."

Wesley said, "How am I supposed to judge your abilities as a leader and theirs in the field if I don't observe?"

Faith said, "Can you take care of yourself? For real. I mean; not in those 'controlled situations' you were bragging about when you got here. Big difference, you know."

Wesley started to speak and then stopped. "I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "I've never been field-tested. I think I can handle whatever comes, though." He sounded confident – probably too confident – but not arrogant. "Also, I would like a crossbow. If you have a spare. I am reasonably certain of THOSE skills."

"Very well," Giles said. "Willow, now, are you sure you're up to this?"

His question snapped Willow out of her confusion. "I stopped a group of zombies from blowing up the school. I think I can handle a few vampires." She gazed sternly at Giles. "And I thought you were going to stop asking me that."

"I intend to keep asking until you say no," Giles said. "I trust you to tell me when that time is, however." Not completely true; despite Will's little Night of the Living Dead adventure, Buffy figured she was up for maybe another month or so or fieldwork before she got benched whether she wanted it or not. Everyone involved was hoping by that point she wanted it.

"I don't know if my witchcraft is up to it, though. Can I borrow the tranq gun?" In the year or so they'd had Oz duty, they'd all gotten pretty good at using that. Willow was better than any of them. She'd practiced. And while a tranquilizer dart wouldn't

"Certainly." He clapped his hands together. "Are there any questions?"

Damn. He'd forgotten about how they were going to deal with Balthasar's power. But Buffy wasn't the only one who'd caught this. Oz said, "Telekinesis. Hard to fight."

"Right," Buffy said. "Gonna be kind of hard to fight if Fatboy Slim's jerking us all over the room."

"Ah. Right. Thank you for . . . reminding me, Buffy. The records indicate that Balthasar's power, while great, is not unlimited – and he can only control one person or object."

"Good," Xander said in full sarcasm mode. "That means he can only kill one of us at a time."

"If we keep moving," Giles said a little impatiently, "We should be alright. Besides, you, Oz, and Willow are simply there as a distraction. Shoot off one or two bolts and leave. These warriors are too deadly for you to actually combat them."

"I, of course, will not be leaving," Wesley said. Everyone in the room looked at him. "Well, certainly not," he said. "How do you expect me to observe if I'm not actually in the room?"

Faith shrugged. "Your funeral."

"No one's funeral," Buffy said. "Wesley, at least try to stay back. And yell if you get in trouble."

Again Wesley caught himself before answering. "I don't anticipate being in any trouble," he said cautiously. "But if it happens, I shan't hesitate to scream." Wesley seemed to have a clue. Only one, but that beat the none he'd showed up with.

"Good enough," Buffy said. "That gives us the day to come up with any hitches or improvements. Sundown's sometime after five—"

"5:19," Oz said.

"So we should meet back here an hour or so earlier. See you all then."

She looked over at Giles and nodded; it had gone well. Giles nodded back. Buffy suspected the way she they'd work through their problems was . . . well, work. They'd strategized together without much trouble. Maybe they'd need to talk it over at some point, but maybe they wouldn't.

Actions spoke louder than words.

Inside the warehouse, Balthazar addressed his troops. Saying he wasn't happy was something of an understatement. "Vincent made a noble effort. Man to man, as befits a true warrior. He had courage. He had honor. And I have JACK to show for it!" A bit more calmly, he said, "It's been a hundred years since my enemy me. Now ultimate power is within his grasp. And I shall NOT let it be! Forget about honor! Forget about everything but getting my amulet! Bring the Watchers to me! Find the Slayers and kill them! Kill everything that gets in your way! GO! GO!"

One of the vampires said hesitantly, "But it's still daylight outside."

Balthazar looked up and saw the sun streaming through the windows. "Oh. Right. Wait until sundown. But not a SECOND after, is that clear?"

Part 23

"Yo! Finch!"

The Deputy Mayor stopped. He he knew better than to ignore the vampire. "Yes?" he asked. "What is it?"

"I need you to run an errand."

"I don't work for you," Finch said, and started to walk away.

He was stopped by Trick's hand on his shoulder. "All that means is that I can't fire you," he said. "Doesn't mean I can't kill you." After a second, "Besides, this is on orders from the Mayor."

Finch straightened up. "Why didn't you say so?"

"More fun to watch you squirm," Trick said. "I need you to deliver a message to the Slayers." When he started to protest, Trick said, "I don't care how you do it, or who you hire. But the Mayor wants them to know the details about Balthazar. In case they don't already."

Finch nodded. "He's hoping they wipe each other out."

"That's the best case, sure," Trick said. "Now get a move on. Wouldn't want you to spend the whole day chasing them around. Sure you got plenty of papers to push." Chuckling to himself, the vampire walked away.

About the only idea they came up with during the day made sense to Faith was figuring out how the teams would signal back and forth. Finally they decided that the decoys would just yell their lungs out if they got in trouble, and B would do the same; on the chance Angel got delayed B and Giles would come charging in anyway and let Angel pick up the pieces.

They all met in the library and divvied up the weapons and got ready to get going. There were only two crossbows available; to Faith's total shock, Wesley went five for five on a target B set up.

Xander got a pair of knives instead.

Right around five they split. No point getting to the front door of the place too far past sundown; that'd just give the vamps time to skedaddle. Or to come out in force; Faith guessed they probably weren't too happy with her about now, if honor was such a biggie to them.

One of the reasons B'd asked her to head up this decoy strike force was anticipating the bloodsuckers'd be so pissed at her they'd charge, which would kind of suck for her but would leave B and hers a great opening. Smart move on B's part. And it wasn't like Faith couldn't handle herself.

Time came for the two groups to split and Faith began taking her group down the alley. B and Giles circled around the same block.

No one commented on the people carrying the weapons; Sunny D's population was either too clueless or too used to it to care, apparently. Long as they didn't call the cops, Faith didn't care how they acted.

Behind them, Xander, Willow and Oz were having a conversation; they'd been having the conversation ever since they'd left the library. Faith could've listened in if she'd wanted to, but why? None of her business unless it got personal.

Wesley, now, he was doing the bored bit something fierce. Trying to act like he'd seen all this before and wasn't impressed. If he wasn't scared out of his mind, Faith would eat her stake.

The sun was almost down and they were just about there. "Shush," she said, drawing her stake. "We're getting close –"

She never finished w


End file.
